Genesis Analytics has launched two important and useful new tools for looking at and understanding the Covid-19 epidemic. This comes amid daily predictions and models that tell us how severely the Covid-19 epidemic will become in South Africa, as well as the rest of the continent.

The Return2Work Initiative offers businesses clear and simple step-by-step guidance on re-opening and staying open, incorporating the key legal requirements and tools to minimise infection and maximise compliance. The initiative is lead by Genesis Analytics, BSA, the PPGI and Harambee.

Genesis CEO Stephan Malherbe joined economists and business leaders at the CDE webinar on unlocking the South African economy. Malherbe argued that the more ready business is, the sooner the economy will be unlocked and that is why initiatives like return2work.co.za are so important.

Africa has just over 34,800 cases of Covid-19. While this is a large number, it pales in comparison with other regions of the world. It is increasingly important for African countries to assess their own epidemics, and not feel pressured to apply a “one size fits all” approach, no matter who is advising them

As the Covid-19 pandemic evolves in Africa, the desire for certainty, a deluge of global information and scarcity of authoritative findings all create the risk of misinformation. As with written news on the pandemic, we need to be responsible in how we consume and share data.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive disruption to education globally, forcing school systems across the world to close. As mitigation measures are considered to preserve education outcomes, the discussion has largely revolved around the role that education technology (EdTech) can play in enabling remote learning.

More than 700 million Africans lack access to a bank or mobile money account and only 41% of Africans are financially included. This is due to the high cost of providing financial services in Africa which forces many financial services providers to remain focused on serving wealthier customers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has a disproportionately negative effect on already disadvantaged and marginalised populations. As you continue to implement and adapt your work to respond to COVID-19, the need to monitor and evaluate developmental efforts is greater than ever. Relevant and timely evidence is required to inform programme implementation.

While young people are widely considered to be less vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19, it would be a mistake to forget about them in our responses to the global pandemic - especially in Africa. The pandemic requires policymakers, donors, and the private sector to develop solutions that improve the resilience of Africa’s youth in these uncertain times. The Genesis Analytics Youth team looks at how we can prioritise young people in our responses to COVID-19.

At times of extreme crisis and unpredictability, bank leaders do well to rely on trusted tools such as scenario planning. Scenario planning has an advantage over other “tools” as it allows leaders to think forward through different scenarios, establish indicators to determine when circumstances are moving from one scenario to another, and to plan accordingly. At Genesis we have been leveraging our combined expertise to work with clients to implement scenario planning processes during the COVID-19 crisis.

As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, Genesis is monitoring the evolving situation closely. Our teams have run various scenarios of the effects of the epidemic on the economies in which we operate our business. Genesis chair Stephan Malherbe outlines the position of the firm.

The World Health Organisation’s advisory that cash can carry the virus for several days doesn’t bode well for a continent whose main mode of payment is cash. East Africa seems better placed to curb the spread of the virus thanks to the proliferation of mobile money - and because mobile money users can pay each other without physical contact.

Cloud Banking in Africa: The Regulatory Opportunity, a report by Genesis Analytics and Orange Business Services, outlines how cloud computing in financial services can help financial services providers reach and serve the poor.

There is no vaccine available for either and there are no licensed pharmaceuticals for COVID-19, just as there was not for HIV in the early years. Population behaviour will determine the pandemic trajectory of COVID-19, just as it did for HIV. Health partner Saul Johnson was a co-author of “Three lessons for the COVID-19 response from pandemic HIV” in the April 13 2020 edition of the Lancet.

This report seeks maps the current landscape of fintechs in South Africa and in understanding the sector, will serve to support regulators and policymakers as they make decisions to enable more solution orientated engagement among the industry’s stakeholders (e g incubators, venture capitalists, new fintech start ups etc). It was presented at the IFWG workshop in 2019.

Genesis drafted the post-workshop report of the second workshop of the IFWG (Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group), which is made up of the representatives from the South African Reserve Bank, Financial Sector Conduct Authority, National Treasury, Financial Intelligence Centre and the South African Revenue Service.

Genesis Analytics is a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact and supports the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact with respect to human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Download our 2020 report.

Genesis Analytics was proud to work with the Pathways for Prosperity Commission at Oxford university on the Digital Manifesto, which offers a roadmap to put developing countries in the driving seat of their own economic development. It offers an evidence-based guide to navigate the digital age to cultivate shared prosperity for all.