The coronavirus pandemic is also an opportunity for digital technology, according to the CEO of social enterprise Simprints. Elsewhere, the…
Articles By Frank Hersey
Frank Hersey is a tech reporter for Biometric Update covering Africa-related biometrics and digital identity news. He is based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Before arriving in West Africa last year, Frank was based in Beijing and worked primarily for TechNode, the China partner for TechCrunch.
Biometrics and digital ID in Africa this week: politics, ecommerce, Covid-19 biometric capture bans
Covid-19 continues to impact biometric systems across Africa. After initial reports in previous weeks of systems being suspended to reduce…
Biometrics and digital ID in Africa this week: SIM cards reactivated, refugee privacy concerns and coronavirus
The spread of the coronavirus on the continent sees more impact on biometric services. This week we have summarized the…
Biometrics and digital ID in Africa this week: coronavirus fallout, startup funding, Ghana electoral register
As the coronavirus pandemic spreads, some African institutions are reacting by suspending fingerprint-based biometric access and attendance systems in the…
Biometrics and digital ID in Africa this week: increasing CCTV surveillance, new ID document contracts
Madagascar and Zimbabwe seem to be shifting toward far greater government surveillance with public CCTV networks, according to reports this…
Biometrics and digital ID across Africa this week: savings and costs in Nigeria, divisions in Tanzania, Ghana
Once again, Nigeria dominates the biometrics news agenda in Africa and this week; even a university has resorted to biometric…
Biometrics and digital ID across Africa this week: mass enrollments, closed borders and system failures
While Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Chad either launched or announced mass enrollments for biometric civil registrations, the system in…
Biometrics and digital ID across Africa this week: registration for Nigeria SIMs, Zimbabwe public sector
After much criticism of Kenya’s Huduma Namba scheme, this week there is a call for further use of biometrics to…
Developments in biometrics and digital ID in Africa this week: Malawi election nullified, lack of funds in Uganda
The result of Malawi’s first biometric election, held in May 2019, has finally been nullified by a panel of judges,…
Biometrics developments and digital ID across Africa this week: Huduma Namba halted, Tanzania SIM shutdown and a sea of opinions
Africa’s most emblematic biometric ID scheme has been halted by the High Court. Kenya’s Huduma Namba must wait until adequate…
