The-Accountant-Sep-Oct-2017-Final

TID BITS
Apart from Ghana these are other sub-
Saharan countries that have satellites in
space
On Friday, July 7th 2017 Africa and the world at large celebrated the
successful launch of Ghana’s first satellite into space. This technological feat
was made possible by the efforts of a team from a private University in the
West African country, the All Nations University. “It has opened the door
for us to do a lot of activities from space,” Dr Richard Damoah, the product
coordinator told BBC. The satellite named GhanaSat-1, was shot into
space from the International Space Station, while the team back in Ghana
watched from the university’s auditorium. The satellite has low and highresolution
cameras on board. It will be used to monitor Ghana’s coastline
for mapping purposes and to collect data in that respect. The launch,
which was made possible by collaboration with the Japanese Aerospace
Exploration Agency ( JAXA), was a 2-year project that cost $50,000.
Source: Ventures Africa
How is Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) leveraging
tech to drive innovation in the banking sector?
MCB has been investing in tech since the
early 80s. In those days the initial focus was
on operational efficiency but since then we
have been leveraging on tech to enhance
customers’ interaction with the bank and
to improve the customer’s experiences.
We now offer a multi-channel
experience with ATMs, branches, bank
kiosks, mobile app, SMS banking,
customer contact centre and internet
banking. In fact, we’ve had internet
banking now for the past 15 to 20 years
and a customer base of 130,000 corporates
and individuals. Recently we introduced
our mobile banking app called Juice which
has had a phenomenal uptake of more
than 100,000 users. It introduces a number
of interesting features like cardless ATM
withdrawal, connecting with Visa Direct
worldwide and the latest feature – the
first of its kind in Africa – is to link the
account with PayPal. We’ve also worked
a lot on workflow systems to ensure that
we improve on operational efficiency so
that customers get a more rapid service.
We introduced Instakit which enables
someone to open an account with us and
instantly be equipped with a debit card,
SMS banking, e-statement and mobile
app Juice.
So you can walk out of the bank and
have a fully functioning bank account
within half an hour. All these services
are enabling us to improve customer
experience. We have a regional network
around the Indian Ocean islands and
Africa and so we are able to leverage on
our capabilities in Mauritius to expand
into other countries like Madagascar,
Seychelles, Maldives and Mozambique.
Source: Africa Business Magazine
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