Hello 👋 Innovators!
We love every opportunity to talk to you and that's what every 12 pm on Saturdays are for.
We are ready to pick up right where we left off, and we believe that so are you.
Look 👀 at what we have here 😁, it's our tech meme from the streets with a funny plot as always.
Gen Zs might have a lot of experiences to share on this. Can we relate? Maybe 🤔😀
With that out of the way, we'll be getting into today's issues.
Last week, we laid a great foundation 🧱 on the topic of ethics in tech aka "Decoding Right from wrong” and we started by understanding the power that we as users give to the internet, talk less of tech companies.
We started by understanding the meaning and the implications of the cookies 🍪 that are sometimes forced down our throats on various websites.
We hope we have made very clear the fact that we need to understand the implications of every one of our activities on the Internet. With that knowledge, your online safety as a user is up to you and the decisions you make with the knowledge you have.
Today, however, we'll talk about some non-ethical practices in tech spaces in Africa, luckily giving Silicon Valley a break.
In Recent Times…
Founders seem to be at liberty to act funny without any accountability 😶 or whatever happened to being accountable to your users 🤷?
Let us probably be the hundredth tech outlet to tell you what PayDay (The Fintech) did recently.
You might be aware of the recent deactivation of Mastercard on Payday, and we must commend their accountability to the users through emails. They conveyed their message that users who already activated a Mastercard for $5 had access to activating the Payday Visa card without having to pay again.
However, could someone explain why the interface still looked like this for the longest time even for previous users of the Mastercard?
or why it took almost forever to get an email containing this from Payday.
This is not a Payday call-out, but if we don't do it who will 😅? We come in peace 🕊️✌️.
PS: The interface still looks the same even for previous Mastercard users and it still leaves users baffled 🤦
The concern here is the possibility of a previous Mastercard user paying twice, because of the whole setup. Their intentions for not being able to fix this simple and obvious error remain unknown.
How hard would it be to look through your database to confirm previous users and remove that interface/barrier?
Moving on 🏃🏃
Ethics in tech looks like, doing your research before embarking on a venture as a startup or as an innovator.
That's what we wish 54 Genes did a little more thoroughly before news of their inaccessible website reached us. A long-standing public relations agency also confirmed that it had severed ties with 54gene, thereby confirming our fears.
What went wrong?
"In 2021, 54gene ventured into diagnostics, creating Seven River Labs. The project initially enjoyed success through COVID-19 testing, generating over $20 million in revenue. However, lavish spending, without considering the realities of the diagnostics space, led to dire consequences.
The startup further plunged into disarray with several leadership transitions which started when Ene-Obong stepped down as CEO in October 2022.” - Source (TC Daily)
Here are other issues…
Does Inadequate Customer Support sound familiar? We are talking about poor customer service, including delayed responses and unhelpful support that can leave users dissatisfied and frustrated.
Here's another one for the likes of “No Money? No Problemo!”
Over-indebtedness: Fintechs offering quick loans might not conduct proper risk assessments, leading users to take on more debt than they can handle, trapping them in cycles of poverty.
And…
Discriminatory Algorithms: Fintech algorithms, if biased, can lead to discriminatory practices, such as denying loans or financial services based on race, gender, or socioeconomic status.
In conclusion, inadequate cyber security measures can result in security breaches, putting users' financial information at risk.
Here’s how to fix this: Innovators are advised to adopt the best corporate government practices for their startups from early days, so that they can build a system of accountability. This is how to get ahead and reduce possibilities of these outcomes.
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Opportunities
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Tushop is hiring a Senior Backend Engineer in Nairobi, Kenya (On-site)