Ared

Who we are

Call us a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) or a company that operates at the intersection of deep tech technology and renewable energy. ARED has been playing the role of a digital enabler since its inception in 2013 by revolutionizing the way people from semi-urban, rural and refugee camps of Africa access digital content and undertake transactions to pay for services digitally.

We pioneered the innovative use of integrating deep tech edge solutions in solar powered kiosks, called the Shiriki Hubs. We offer democratized digital access by providing a whole host of offline and online digital applications and services via Wi-Fi, as well as phone charging solutions.

Our B2B business model has paved the way for our partners to expand and optimize their network across Africa by white labeling our technology.

The Challenges

High Cost of Digital Access

High Cost of Digital Access

Internet access costs are dropping globally, but in Africa, the internet remains out of reach for millions of people.

Public access options like Wi-Fi, especially in rural and remote areas are needed to overcome such hurdles

Unreliable Access to Energy

The digital impact of Unreliable Access to Energy

We cannot talk about connectivity without talking about access to energy.

Across Africa less that 30% of the population has access to electricity, and this barrier is most urgent in rural and remote areas.

This energy gap has a negative effect on providing the right infrastructure for connectivity, which would allow individuals the freedom to charge and use their phones to better their daily lives.

These are the obstacles that ARED is addressing through alternative energy power solution.

Unemployment & Social Inequity

Rising unemployment & Social inequity

Africa is creating 12 million additional jobs to contain the challenge of unemployment of youth which currently stands at 60%

From a gender lens, unemployment rate of women in sub-Saharan Africa is a high 8.34% with a vulnerable employment gender gap of 15%

We at ARED are tackling this by creating self-employment opportunities or micro-entrepreneurship opportunities, especially for women, people with disabilities as well as refugees through our franchisee model.

Smartphone & Digital Literacy

Low End Smartphones & Digital Literacy

Most Africans connect to the internet via smartphones, and most of these are low end smartphones with low processing power and low internal memory. This limits their usage capacity to download multiple applications and to store media content at will, including photo and video content, without increasing the cost to the user.

Additionally Africa still has a low literacy rate, and for people to participate in this digital ecosystem, there is a need for products that address that challenge.

ARED works to address these problems so that all Africans are free to fully participate in this digital revolution.

Without addressing these problems, individuals will always be limited in their ability to participate in this digital revolution