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<p>Social Media has become an integral part of the educational landscape. It has transformed the way students learn, access information, and interact with their peers and teachers. In this episode of EdTech Mondays Africa explores the impact of social media in education. Can educators make use of social media? What are the benefits? What are the pitfalls?</p>


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EdTech Monday: The Impact of Social Media on Education and Learning

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<p>While scrapping the controversial social media tax, the Ugandan government in its annual budget for the 2021-22 financial year introduced a 12 per cent excise duty on internet data usage. The latest move will force 21 million internet users to shell out 12 per cent tax while purchasing data packages, we spoke to the minister of ICT Chris Baryomunsi for more.</p>


Uganda scraps social media tax introduces new data levies

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<p>With the prevalence of social media  to build personal brands and to even sell products, have you ever wondered how South African’s social media patters look? Media monitoring agency, Ornico has compiled a report on South Africa’s social media landscape. Ornico CEO, Oresti Patricios joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Social media in SA: Here’s where the big big brands are investing their money

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<p>The government of Uganda ordered a countrywide shutdown of the internet on the eve of the general election in an effort to stop the public from using social media and other cyber communication channels to transmit results from polling stations. This, however, left companies that rely on Internet connectivity to do business counting losses. Ron Kawamara, CEO of Jumia Uganda joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


How Uganda’s internet shutdown has impacted online businesses

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<p>TikTok is giving Facebook a run for its money in the race to be South Africa’s top social platform among brands and consumers.</p>


Tik Tok eyes Facebook’s top spot as SA’s favourite social media


<p>JOHANNESBURG, 11 June 2020:- South Africa’s largest annual study of social media trends has revealed that Facebook remains the social platform of choice for marketing – but TikTok is rising fast among both brands and consumers.<br><br>According to the 2020 edition of the <em>SA Social Media Landscape</em>, released this week by World Wide Worx and Ornico, almost a third of major brands intend to become active on TikTok, which is also the fastest growing social media platform among consumers. Fewer than 20% of brands have used it in the past year, but none believe they are doing so very effectively.<br><br>These numbers are likely to change significantly during 2020. It is estimated that around 6-million South Africans are already using the platform. Nine out of ten major brands – just more than 89% – indicated they were active on Facebook, versus 77% on Twitter, 75% on LinkedIn and 68% on Instagram.<br><br>“There was a common factor across all these platforms, however: a substantial drop in engagement from the previous year,” says Arthur Goldstuck, CEO of World Wide Worx and lead analyst on the project. “The one exception was LinkedIn, which saw a small increase in activity by major brands. LinkedIn also led the way in the proportion of older platforms that were intending to use it for the first time in the coming year: a large 21%. One could argue that LinkedIn is a social platform whose time has come.”<br><br>Not surprisingly, lack of budget has emerged as the single most significant barrier to implementing social media strategies. A massive 18% are not allocating budget to social media, compared to only 1% last year. While Facebook remains the dominant platform among both brands and consumers, it has lost some appeal in terms of marketing budgets.<br><br>“Facebook spend has plateaued,” says Oresti Patricios, CEO of Ornico. “This signals how brands are looking at prioritising their budgets across platforms, which can also talk to where brands look to increase their communication.”<br><br>Patricios believes TikTok is set for explosive growth.<br><br>“Launched in China in 2016, TikTok is seen as the new kid on the block in South Africa which marketers and communicators are scrambling to understand.”<br><br>Goldstuck agrees: “The popularity of social media environments for brands has in the past been shown to be directly related to the level of usage of those platforms by marketers. Hence, TikTok is almost non-existent among big brands, as the marketers behind those brands are not active on TikTok.”<br><br>Twitter and Instagram both showed strong growth in the past year, each reaching a user base of about 9-million. Data analysed for the <em>SA Social Media Landscape 2020</em> report from the Target Group Index (TGI), a research survey among 30,000 South Africans coducted by Ask Afrika, shows that just over half of Instagram and Twitter users – 4,7-million on each – are highly active on these platforms.<br><br>Contrary to the view that Twitter is primarily a vehicle for negative sentiment, data on all South African tweets over a 12 month period, provided for the project by audience intelligence company Brandwatch, shows a different picture. Of the tweets reflecting sentiment, 61% comprise positive sentiments, against 39% negative.  However, it is clear that even 39% remains a high proportion, and generates significant shade over the Twitter landscape in general.<br></p>


Facebook holds on as TikTok invades Social Media in SA


<p>In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, media intelligence company Meltwater has been tracking some of the most talked about and reported topics on the virus around the world, as well as some of the stories that are not gaining as much media attention.</p>



<p>For more coverage on COVID-19 visit: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/</a></p>



<p>The data report provided below has been compiled by Meltwater:</p>



<p>As COVID-19 continues to spread across the globe, and news and social media conversations on the current pandemic continue to rise, much of the information reported on has had to do with the rising number of confirmed cases, the number of deaths and preventive measures that countries have been implementing since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.</p>



<p>But did you know that since 1 January 2020 to date, there have been 26.1 million news articles, globally, reporting on the coronavirus, but just under 6 000 of those news articles are talking about a possible vaccine? As the global leader in media intelligence, Meltwater not only tracked the most reported on news and social media topics since the start of 2020, but also took a look into the 4 most under-reported on topics surrounding the coronavirus.</p>



<p><strong>1. How the news is under-reporting on a vaccine</strong></p>



<p>One of the first trending topics to emerge from the coronavirus was a vaccine, or lack thereof, and the potential&nbsp; of a vaccine being created. While governments around the world are working towards treatment for coronavirus, this news isn’t making as many headlines globally.</p>



<p>While the process of finding a vaccine began as many parts of the world started to go into self-quarantine, researchers across the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries have started the global race towards making a vaccine, with just over 7 000 news articles mentioning ‘research’ with ‘coronavirus’ and ‘vaccine’, indicating that there is a slightly higher interest in news media on the research that scientists are doing for a vaccine than the actual potential of one being created.</p>



<p>With the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation donating $100 million to help develop a vaccine, news articles are reporting more on this, with over 4 000 news articles already written between 1 March 2020 and 8 April 2020, in comparison to news articles that do not mention the foundation’s involvement.</p>



<p>Only on 16 March 2020 did ‘research’, ‘coronavirus’ and ‘vaccine’ gain more media exposure on in the news due to reporting on fake test kits and herbal treatments for the coronavirus.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="627" height="423" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-1.png" alt="" data-id="368605" data-full-url="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-1.png" data-link="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/?attachment_id=368605" class="wp-image-368605" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-1.png 627w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-1-300x202.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 627px) 100vw, 627px" /></figure></li></ul><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-caption"><strong><em>Global News Media Exposure on ‘‘Coronavirus” and “Vaccine” (blue) and ‘‘Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation” and ‘Vaccine’’ (green) between 1 January 2020 and 8 April 2020</em></strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>One of the biggest themes to come out of news media mentions on the ‘Coronavirus’ and ‘vaccines’ is ‘people.’ ‘People’ refers to the impact on citizens of the world that a current lack of a vaccine has, but also what people should do while they wait for a vaccine. While some news articles are reporting that it could take between 12 and 18 months for a successful vaccine to be developed, the human impact in the interim could be devastating, especially from an economic standpoint.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="627" height="425" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-2.png" alt="" data-id="368607" data-full-url="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-2.png" data-link="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/?attachment_id=368607" class="wp-image-368607" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-2.png 627w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-2-300x203.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 627px) 100vw, 627px" /></figure></li></ul><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-caption"><strong><em>Global Trending Themes on ‘Coronavirus and Vaccine’ in News Media between 1 January 2020 and 8 April 2020</em></strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>‘AP Fact Check’ also emerged as a trending theme for news articles talking about the ‘Coronavirus’ and ‘vaccine’. This theme refers to the news articles that are debunking fake news around the coronavirus. Across the globe, there are only 532 news articles that have reported on this since the beginning of the year.</p>



<p><strong>2. The silently positive social media response to a possible vaccine</strong></p>



<p>On social media, there have been over 2 million mentions of ‘Coronavirus’ and ‘vaccine’ together, in comparison to the 223 million social media mentions of just the ‘Coronavirus’ since the start of the year. But when it comes to the general consensus around a vaccine for the Coronavirus, social media users don’t feel too positive or confident about it, as indicated by the data below. Between January and March, negative feelings have been growing for a vaccine, with 91% of social media mentions in March showing low confidence in the possibility of a vaccine, with social media posts referring to vaccine projects underway as well as better restrictions being a more feasible way of preventing the spread of the virus than a vaccine.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="624" height="420" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-3.png" alt="" data-id="368610" data-full-url="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-3.png" data-link="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/?attachment_id=368610" class="wp-image-368610" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-3.png 624w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-3-300x202.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px" /></figure></li></ul><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-caption"><strong><em>Global Sentiment Analysis, in Numbers, on ‘Coronavirus’ and ‘Vaccine’ on Social Media</em></strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>The announcement, in March however, where the USA signed a $450 million deal with Johnson &amp; Johnson contributed to 94% of all social media mentions on ‘coronavirus’, ‘vaccine’ and ‘Johnson &amp; Johnson’ showing little confidence in the vaccine project.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-4 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="624" height="437" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-4.png" alt="" data-id="368611" data-full-url="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-4.png" data-link="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/?attachment_id=368611" class="wp-image-368611" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-4.png 624w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-4-300x210.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px" /></figure></li></ul><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-caption"><strong><em>Global Sentiment Analysis, in Numbers,  on ‘Coronavirus’, ‘Vaccine’ and ‘Johnson &amp; Johnson’ between 1 January 2020 and 8 April 2020</em></strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>But despite the overwhelming adversity of a vaccine for the Coronavirus, March was the month where social media posts were mostly positive, in comparison to January and February.  While there were over 63 000  positive social media posts about a vaccine, and ten times more were of a negative sentiment, social media users are still hopeful that one is possible and well on its way.</p>



<p><strong>3. Number of recoveries is also under-reported by the media</strong></p>



<p>As news and social media continues to talk about growing concerns and the impact that the coronavirus has had on society in terms of restricted border entry, travel bans and disruptions to the economy, there have been far less media mentions when it comes to the recoveries that have been made.</p>



<p>With 26.1 million news articles talking about the coronavirus across the globe, just over 5 000 of those news articles have mentioned ‘recoveries’ in relation to the virus. On social media, while 223 million mentions have been made on the coronavirus, just over 8 000 of those mentions talk about recoveries, compared to the social media mentions that include ‘Coronavirus’ and ‘death’.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-5 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="624" height="413" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-5.png" alt="" data-id="368614" data-full-url="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-5.png" data-link="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/?attachment_id=368614" class="wp-image-368614" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-5.png 624w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-5-300x199.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px" /></figure></li></ul><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-caption"><strong><em>Global Media Exposure on ‘‘Coronavirus’ and ‘Death’’ (blue) and ‘‘Coronavirus’ and ‘Recoveries’’ (green) between 1 January 2020 and 8 April 2020</em></strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>In the news, the USA remains as the number one country for reporting on coronavirus recoveries (53.81%). This is due to news articles reporting on the recoveries of influential people, such as singer, Pink, and actress, Linda Lusardi.</p>



<p>Nigeria and South Africa, respectively at 3.26% and 2,04%, are the top two countries in Africa to do the same, with Nigeria mainly reporting on the discharging of recovered patients, and South African news articles reported on the recovery of Patient Zero (the first person in the country to be infected with the virus) and Netball SA President, Cecilia Molokwane.</p>



<p>While social media mentions on the recovery cases have been few, the USA has been the number one country to engage in these conversations online (20.45%) and mentions not just recoveries from the virus, but how economies plan to recover from the pandemic. Nigeria is the number one African country to do so on social media (3.08%), with users sharing their experience of having the virus after recovering from it.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-6 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="624" height="441" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-6.png" alt="" data-id="368616" data-full-url="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-6.png" data-link="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/?attachment_id=368616" class="wp-image-368616" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-6.png 624w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-6-300x212.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px" /></figure></li></ul><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-caption"><strong><em>Global Heat Map of Social Media mentions for ‘Coronavirus’ and ‘Recovery’ between 1 January 2020 and 8 April 2020</em></strong></figcaption></figure>



<p><strong>4. The importance of masks as the real influencers is under-reported</strong></p>



<p>The sale of masks has seen a large increase in the wake of the global pandemic. And while it has been talked about in the media as a preventative measure, few news articles talk about how face masks have become a symbol of health in these times.</p>



<p>As one of the trending themes to emerge from ‘Coronavirus’ and ‘Recoveries’, ‘face masks’, ‘mask and gloves’ and ‘health mask hands’ refers to how these items, mainly associated with essential workers, are now playing a big part in preventing the spread of the virus among non-essential workers.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-7 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="557" height="384" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-7.png" alt="" data-id="368619" data-full-url="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-7.png" data-link="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/?attachment_id=368619" class="wp-image-368619" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-7.png 557w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-7-300x207.png 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Meltwater-7-218x150.png 218w" sizes="(max-width: 557px) 100vw, 557px" /></figure></li></ul><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-caption"><strong><em>Global Trending Themes in News Media Mentions on ‘Coronavirus’ and ‘Recoveries’ between 1 January 2020 and 8 April 2020</em></strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>While influencers and celebrities have taken to social media to share posts reacting to the Coronavirus and wearing masks, the top social media posters, by reach, to mention ‘Coronavirus’ and ‘Recovery’ are ‘Kashmir Today’, a Facebook account providing updates on the Coronavirus to their online community, and ‘MyMeleTOP’ on Twitter, a Nigerian based account that wished Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson a speedy recovery after testing positive for the Coronavirus.</p>



<p>With seven out of ten people searching for details and information on the coronavirus on a daily basis, the online world has become a valuable source for updates on what is happening in the real world. While the attention around the coronavirus has grown significantly during 2020, other topics of interest have become whispers in the noise surrounding COVID19.</p>



<p>As researchers continue to look for a vaccine, and the world embraces face masks as a prominent symbol of prevention, the data behind the insights on what has been under-reported on in relation to the coronavirus does provide an opportunity to shed light on what news and social media may not.</p>


The 4 most under-reported stories on the COVID-19 pandemic

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<p>Over the weekend the world saw DJs and musicians serenading and playing music for people in their homes via social media and between the #TogetherAtHome initiative by WHO and Global Citizen to well-known American hip hop DJ, DNice hosting a seven hour set on his Instagram live to over 100,000 people worldwide including influential leaders and celebrities alike such as Jennifer Lopez, P. Diddy, the Obamas, Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones, and Facebook/Instagram owner himself, Mark Zuckerberg among others. This model that people are calling, &#8220;Club Quarantine&#8221; seems to be picking up. Managing Director of KGL FWD, Autumn Marie Faraj co-hosted a similar event herself called #RwandaLive, she joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


The rise of the social media “Quarantine Party”

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<p>As cases of COVID-19 continue to rise globally, social media giant, Facebook has stepped up its fight against misinformation regarding the virus on its platforms. Kojo Boakye, Facebook Head of Public Policy for Africa for more.</p>


Facebook steps up fight against misinformation regarding COVID-19 pandemic

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<p>Recent times have seen not only shareholders concerned with a company&#8217;s mission and ethical practices, the age of social media has held a lot more corporations accountable for upholding certain values and now, more and more, the eyes of investors and the public alike are on corporate governance. Cloudhop, a cloud computing firm based in East Africa believes that tech is the best way to implement strong governance structures. CEO of Cloudhop, Keval Shah joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


How ready is Africa to fully embracing cloud-computing?

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<p>On the 20th of December, just a few weeks ago, the #ConnectRwanda campaign was launched on social media by MTN Rwanda in collaboration with the Ministry of ICT and Innovation. The goal of the campaign is getting smart phones into the hands and homes of the country&#8217;s most vulnerable citizens. Some 50,000 phones have been pledged so far but with a gap that consists of millions, are these efforts enough? CEO of MTN Rwanda, Mitwa Ng&#8217;ambi joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


MTN involved in Smartphone campaign is set to change and improve the lives of Rwandan citizens

By <span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/victor-odundo-owuor-460341">Victor Odundo Owuor</a>, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-colorado-boulder-733">University of Colorado Boulder</a></em></span>

<p>When one talks about young Africans using smartphones, the dominant narrative is that these gadgets serve mostly as platforms for connection so that users can communicate and share greetings and information via text and images. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp and Signal take pride of place in that description, despite their <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2019/11/13/can-social-media-targetcasting-and-democracy-coexist/?utm_campaign=Brookings%20Brief&amp;utm_source=hs_email&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=79382557">murkier side</a>. What has perhaps been overlooked is how smartphones are also affecting other facets of young people’s lives. One area is the ever-growing community of sports betting in Africa. </p>

<p>The phenomenon of sports betting among African youths has taken the region by storm. Recent polls and anecdotal reports point to a grim scenario, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. A 2017 <a href="https://www.geopoll.com/blog/the-spending-habits-of-youth-consumers-in-sub-sahara-africa/">GeoPoll</a> survey found that up to 54% of sub-Saharan African youth between 17 and 35 years have engaged in sports gambling. Kenya, with 74% participation in sports betting, had by far the largest percentage of youth involvement in this activity. The survey of some 2,726 African millennials was conducted in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. </p>

<p>A core driver of this trend has been the growing ubiquity of mobile telephony around the continent combined with the availability of smartphones. Added to this has been greater connectivity – including satellite access to sport matches – and a ballooning population of young people with high levels of unemployment.</p>

<p>In <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5811642/">research</a> on the subject we see that sports betting has brought many <a href="https://theconversation.com/ugandas-ban-on-sports-betting-was-the-right-thing-to-do-110728">ills</a> to young people in sub-Saharan Africa. These include severe gambling addiction and money laundering. Some of these concerns are also experienced in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563216302126?via%3Dihub">other</a> parts of the world. These include <a href="https://akademiai.com/doi/10.1556/2006.7.2018.49">smartphone addiction</a> and a closely related phenomenon: internet addiction. These ills in turn lead to heightened levels of social anxiety and loneliness among the affected population.</p>

<h2>The drivers?</h2>

<p><a href="https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/assa/2018/01/22/the-boom-of-smartphones-and-social-media-in-cameroon-by-patrick-awondo/">Smartphone penetration</a> around the continent has exhibited a remarkable growth rate. Cameroon, for instance, had 72% registered users of social networks among those aged 15 to 24 in 2016. This grew to that level from 43% in the first half of that year. The most popular social networks for that community was Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Twitter. This development has come at a time when there is growing interest in sports betting &#8211; the most popular gambling option for African youth. Mobile phones are the preferred avenue for sports betting.</p>

<p>Of course the increasing availability of smartphones is unleashing the innovative potential of many sub-Saharan African youth. The plethora of social media platforms  have the potential to change lives around the continent. Many social media adaptions are the result of the ingenuity of sub-Saharan youth, like M-Pesa, Ensbuuko and WorldRemit (financial services); ButterflyiQ, Momconnect, Usalama (health and security); Cityaps, Musanga and Twiga Foods (supply chain platforms); and Ushahidi, tajirat al-Facebook and Kano’s WhatsApp entrepreneurs (to strengthen social cohesion).</p>

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            <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302894/original/file-20191121-491-1f0dnv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img decoding="async" alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302894/original/file-20191121-491-1f0dnv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302894/original/file-20191121-491-1f0dnv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302894/original/file-20191121-491-1f0dnv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302894/original/file-20191121-491-1f0dnv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302894/original/file-20191121-491-1f0dnv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302894/original/file-20191121-491-1f0dnv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302894/original/file-20191121-491-1f0dnv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
            <figcaption>
              <span class="caption">A Kenyan man checks out the Football World Cup fixtures. Matches are often screened in small viewing centres.</span>
              <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Irungu/EPA</span></span>
            </figcaption>
          </figure>

<p>Another driver is clever marketing and advances in technology &#8211; the digital satellite television space across the continent broadcasts sports events of African clubs and popular European soccer leagues. In Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and across much of sub-Saharan Africa, the advent of <a href="https://www.dstvafrica.com/en-ng/browse-compare-packages">DStv</a> (Digital Satellite Television) and other broadcast platforms have brought foreign league matches to  viewing centres and hence to the doorstep of individuals who on their own who be hard-pressed to afford watching prized league games in their respective homes.</p>

<p>These viewing centres are in the nooks and crannies of urban centres in all these countries. In turn self-acclaimed fans of some of the biggest clubs in the world like Real Madrid, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Barcelona, Manchester City, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Dortmund, Juventus and Paris Germain can keep up with the performance of their teams without ever visiting the homes of these clubs.</p>

<p>A third driver is the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/youngest-populations-africa/">youth bulge</a> in Africa. The continent has the <a href="https://population.un.org/wpp/">youngest population in the world</a>, with an estimated 60% of people under the age of 25. Of the 420 million youth in Africa today, the majority are unemployed, have insecure jobs or are in casual employment. For many on the continent, the slick advertising of sports betting firms provides an irresistible proposition.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127251/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" /></p>

<p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/victor-odundo-owuor-460341">Victor Odundo Owuor</a>, Senior Research Associate, One Earth Future Foundation, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-colorado-boulder-733">University of Colorado Boulder</a></em></span></p>

<p>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-smartphone-gambling-is-on-the-up-among-african-millennials-127251">original article</a>.</p>

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Here’s why smartphone gambling is on the rise among African millennials

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<p>Last week as social media lit up in reaction to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed&#8217;s Nobel Peace Prize win, Addis Ababa was also in the throws of the 9th edition of the Horn of Africa Fashion Week which featured local designers and fashion houses from around the region. The event drew attention but in a country that has grand aspirations of growing its clothing revenues to $30 billion a year, how is the industry fairing so far at large? Fashion Designer, Mahlet Afework joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Designer Mahlet Afework talks entrepreneurship, Africa’s fashion industry

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<p>According to the World Bank, one in five youths in Kenya are unemployed. The issue has picked up steam with young people in the country taking to social media and the streets of Nairobi to protest the high unemployment numbers. For more on this, CNBC Africa&#8217;s Arnold Kwizera caught up with Principal Secretary for Youth, Julius Korir.</p>


How Kenya plans to tackle its youth unemployment crisis

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<p>This week at the 2019 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Athletics Championships happening now in Doha Qatar, we saw the victory of Ugandan runner, Halimah Nakaayi in the women&#8217;s 800m race. The somewhat unpredictable win had Ugandans and the wider region cheering on the athlete across social media and brought international attention to the country as an athletic contender to watch, but how does this benefit Uganda? And how can the country foster more potential stars like this? For answers to these questions, Kenyan sports Analyst, Sharon Allela joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Ugandan athlete Halimah Nakaayi wins Gold in Qatar: How will this motivate future stars?

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<p>In The Hashtag, CNBC Africa&#8217;s social media correspondent, Busi Lethole, takes a look at the first ever Fortnite World Cup, old pair of Nike shoes bought for $437 500, and the remake of Disney’s ‘The Lion King’&#8230;.</p>


#TheHashtag: 16 year old wins $3 million Fortnite World Cup solo prize

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<p>Rwanda is certainly seeing investments in the entertainment industry, such as the highly anticipated Burna Boy concert, that is trending on social media. For more to explore on how lucrative this business can be CNBC Africa is joined by Matthew Rugamba, Director of the event company, Entertainment Factory.</p>


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