Saudi Arabia is innovating as it fights economic turbulence triggered by falling crude prices.

As part of austerity measure, Saudi Arabia on Sunday announced that it was adopting the Gregorian or Western calendar as a basis for paying civil servants.

The kingdom had adopted the lunar Islamic calendar when it was founded in 1932.

The new development brings the birthplace of Islam in line with many of its energy customers.

The Islamic lunar calendar is actually 11 days shorter than the 365-day solar year, which will actually save the kingdom money by cutting salary days for many public servants.

It is part of a larger series of cost-cutting measures recently imposed that includes cancelling some bonuses offered to state employees and hiking fees for entry visas for foreign visitors and residents.

Millions of Muslims from around the globe visit Saudi Arabia annually as part of the hajj pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest sites.

Saudi King Salman has also ordered a 20-percent cut in salaries for civil servants and a 15-percent reduction in financial perks for the kingdom’s advisory Shura council as part of far-reaching economic reforms.

The world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia has seen decreasing revenues since oil prices have been in decline since 2014 as OPEC nations maintain robust output amidst static demand.

Google is set to announce Pixel and Pixel XL, its pure Android-based smartphones on October 4. Yes, the smartphones won’t be called Nexus this time and Google is adopting the Pixel branding used earlier with its Chromebook and Android tablet. With Pixel branding, Google is also emphasizing on the future of ‘Made By Google’ devices.

The new Google smartphones will be made by HTC but don’t be surprised if there is no or little mention of HTC. Rumors have pointed out the search giant is more serious about its say in the design of future devices, which maybe built by Google directly. Google’s Pixel branded phones won’t be the first Android 7.0 Nougat devices, but will be the first to support Google’s DayDream VR platform.

Africa’s leading digital payments and commerce company, Interswitch Limited,  has successfully completed a 100 per cent acquisition of Value Added Network Solutions Limited (VANSO). VANSO is a market leading mobile and security-focused financial technology provider, delivering cutting edge and innovative solutions in Africa.

The transaction has received all relevant regulatory and shareholder approvals, including the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The transaction will result in VANSO’s highly successful mobile banking, SMS and security business lines being fully integrated into Interswitch’s digital commerce and technology operations in Nigeria, and across the continent where they can leverage on Interswitch’s geographic expansion.

According to Interswitch, highlights of the acquisition includes that “the current management team of VANSO will be absorbed into the Interswitch management organisation. VANSO CEO, Denis O’Brien will lead the Interswitch mobile payment’s business unit with a mandate to drive aggressive organic and geographic growth. Denis brings nearly two decades of financial technology experience in Africa.”

Interswitch is presently under severe competition challenge from new entrants like Flutterwave, eTranzact and others. Yet, its product has barely changed. Lacking this innovation, organic growth has not come. This acquisition of VANSO for N15 billion will provide growth and innovation to the digital payment pioneer headquartered in Nigeria.

Helios investment group in London invested in Interswitch few years ago. The firm had explored possible ways of exit but that has not come at a reported valuation of $1 billion. Understanding that exit is not coming, they have decided to pursue growth at all means.

In 2014, Interswitch acquired Kenya’s Paynet Group (they later rebranded to Interswitch East Africa in 2015) and this created a combined network of over 150 financial institutions, thereby strengthening Interswitch’s hold in the East African market.

This is the only way Interswitch will stay relevant through scale as Paypal expands into Africa.

Internet.org is excited to present six Innovation Challenge in Africa awards to leading examples of ideas, apps, websites and/or online services that provide real value in the categories of education and economic empowerment.

We are presenting two $150,000 USD Innovation Challenge award prizes: one each to the leading app, website, service or idea that best meets the needs of the designated population categories – Education and Economic Empowerment, as well as four additional $50,000 USD Impact awards within each category.

The winners are:

Education

Innovation Challenge Award Winner
Started in Ghana, Esoko makes it easier for businesses, governments, NGOs and others to connect with farmers. Through its web and mobile apps, Esoko enables two-way data flows that allow smallholder farmers to access vital agricultural information and markets, and businesses to gain better visibility into their supply chains. The name Esoko comes from “e” representing electronic and “soko” meaning market in Swahili. Esoko has since spread its services to eight additional markets across Africa.

Impact Award Winner
mPedigree Goldkeys from Ghana is an anti-counterfeiting, tracking and tracing solution that uses consumers’ mobile phones as a verification tool. In Uganda and Kenya, this service is being used to help farmers determine whether they are buying original counterfeit seeds. They have since spread their services to Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Egypt for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, agro-inputs like seeds and pesticides, and electrical components.

Impact Award Winner
Nigeria’s SaferMom provides pregnant and new mothers with simple tools to help make informed health decisions via sms, voice services and its mobile app. SaferMom uses a chain of community health partners and mobile technology to track the health of pregnant moms and newborn babies, immunization schedules for babies, nutrition and behavioral routines based on their fetal development stages and antenatal care. This service is available in the English, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and Pidgin languages.

Economic Empowerment

Innovation Challenge Award Winner
Founded in South Africa, Hyperion Development is a social enterprise that has built the first online course platform for computer science education supported by the largest online community of software developers in Africa. Hyperion Development allows anyone to take online courses in coding with a personal computer or mobile phone; even without a broadband connection, which fewer than 1% of Africans have.

Impact Award Winner
Launched in Ghana, Mutti by mPharma is a drug affordability service that enables patients to access high quality medicine at lower prices with flexible payment terms through micro-payments. Mutti means medicine in Bemba, a Zambian language. They also operate in Nigeria, Zambia and Cote D’Ivoire, targeting three main chronic conditions: hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Impact Award Winner
Nigeria’s Tuteria connects people seeking to learn with people around them who can teach. Tuteria provides an online platform which allows users to find, evaluate, book and pay for lessons with competent local tutors, coaches, instructors and mentors.

Source: Internet.org