In Nigeria, issues such as deforestation, flooding, and erratic weather patterns continue to threaten livelihoods, disrupt ecosystems, and pose risks to public health.

While these challenges may seem insurmountable, they also present an opportunity – a chance to innovate, take action, and create sustainable solutions for the future.

The PachiPanda Challenge, a collaborative initiative by MTN Nigeria, and the Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF), is a dynamic platform designed to empower young Nigerians to take on the country’s most pressing environmental issues.

Through this challenge, young visionaries and youth-led small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are being called upon to think creatively and develop cutting-edge solutions that can help reshape Nigeria’s environmental landscape. The goal is to identify problems and pioneer innovative tech solutions that address them head-on.

Recognising the need to harness this youthful energy, the PachiPanda Challenge has provided an empowering platform where young Nigerians can step forward and turn their creative ideas into practical, life-changing solutions.

This move will foster a generation of innovators who will lead the charge toward environmental sustainability. The process began with a nationwide call for applications, which drew an overwhelming 1,643 entries from individuals and teams across the country.

After reviewing the entries which focused on the feasibility, originality and potential impact of the proposed solutions submitted, the field was shortlisted to the top 100.

Upon further evaluation, the top 10 finalists were selected. As the challenge approaches its finale, the 10 finalists will participate in a 3-day event where they will pitch their ideas to a distinguished panel of judges.

These judges, seasoned experts from various fields, will evaluate the ideas based on their innovation, sustainability, and scalability.

The winners will walk away with prizes, gaining access to resources, mentorship, and networking opportunities that can help bring their solutions to life.

Also, the top winner will advance to the Pan-African Africa PachiPanda Challenge, where they will compete against other national winners for a chance to scale their solution across the continent.

By providing young Nigerians with the tools, platform, and support they need, the PachiPanda Challenge is empowering the next generation of environmental champions.

Through this challenge, it is evident that these young innovators hold the key to addressing the environmental issues that affect us all, turning problems into opportunities and ideas into actions.

However, concern over its carbon footprint is growing. The cloud’s greenhouse gas emissions (GGEs) now eclipse that of the global aviation industry.

This highlights the environmental cost of digital expansion, emphasising the need for action as cloud computing now contributes to almost 4% of global carbon emissions.

These statistics underline the critical situation we face, with 2023 having been the hottest year on record to date further underscoring the urgency of the climate crisis.

In 2016, the Paris Agreement was signed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100. This would be a level relative to the pre-industrial age from 1850 to 1900.

This goal necessitates a 43% reduction in GGEs by 2030 and for the world to reach net zero by 2050. What this means in practical terms is that immediate and concerted efforts across all sectors, including technology, are now non-negotiable.

The need for solutions that align with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) outcomes becomes an important building block in this regard.

Gartner’s forecast that 25% of CIOs will have their compensation tied to sustainable technology impact by 2027 underscores the increasing importance of ESG considerations in the corporate world.

On-premises better?

The debate about whether on-premises computing solutions are more efficient is a moot one. The IDC highlights that the cloud is a more environmentally friendly choice compared to on-premises computing due to the greater efficiency of aggregating computing resources.

Therefore, migrating AI and analytics workloads to the cloud seems like the way to go. This efficiency not only supports the business case for cloud migration but also aligns with environmental sustainability by reducing the carbon footprint associated with IT operations.

For our part, we are committed to leveraging AI and analytics in support of sustainable business practices.

Developing solutions that empower companies to reduce emissions and enhance operational efficiency has been an organisational priority. For instance, the SAS Viya platform lies at the heart of these solutions.

This embodies our company’s commitment to a data-driven approach to sustainability. By applying analytics to challenges like traffic congestion and energy usage, we are demonstrating the potential of AI and analytics to contribute to a greener future.

Tips to consider

Organisations can also become more aware of the repercussions of ineffective cloud usage especially as it relates to GGEs. One of the things to consider in this regard is for a business to understand its carbon footprint.

This can be done by using a combination of tools like sustainability calculators along with technology like the Green Algorithm Calculator to build a comprehensive view of the company and its carbon footprint.

From there, decision-makers need to select the cloud regions they use wisely. Different regions can have a different impact on sustainability.

It is vital to find a balance between performance, cost, and sustainability. As part of this, companies must continuously monitor workloads and optimise – and available tools that support continuous monitoring and optimisation become integral to the success of these processes.

Businesses should also consider auto-scaling possibilities. As part of this, they must switch off cloud resources when not needed and only upsize when required.

Many companies tend to forget that even idle resources still use power. Wind and solar-based scheduling can help optimise environments, especially in territories that are rich in such natural resources.

Much of optimising efficiencies entails minimising data movement with in-database technologies. Again, this is where our technologies like SAS Vaya become vital business enablers in this regard.

Making it practical

Our work with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality serves as an example of how AI and analytics can address sustainability challenges.

By optimising traffic management, SAS has helped reduce congestion and emissions, showcasing the practical benefits of AI and data analytics technologies in urban settings.

The journey towards reducing the environmental impact of cloud computing and leveraging technology for sustainability is a complex one.

It requires a combination of strategic decision-making, technological innovation, and a commitment to continuous improvement.

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Most retailers in this segment reconcile their payments with spreadsheets and many can’t expect a view of the previous month until a few weeks into the following month. Even then, what is an acceptable deviation for them and how confident are they in the data?

It’s not just the sheer volume of transactions that puts tremendous pressure on large teams of people trying to reconcile payments; it’s also the rapidly increasing types of transactions.

Many retailers have up to 100 value-added services (VAS) plugins in their systems, and each of these comes with additional layers of complexity in the fees and commissions payable.

Human error in an environment like this can become costly. Automation is the only plausible way for merchants to solve the problem of reconciling at scale and ensuring accuracy.

Automated payments reconciliation can radically transform a retailer with a number of positive knock-on effects for the business.

The best way to illustrate this is to look at the benefits of automation in this unglamorous but fundamental part of every retailer’s business.

Cost savings

What was previously performed by large teams of people can now be performed by far fewer, freeing the business to redeploy its staff into areas that benefit the business.

We engaged a business that had a team of more than 100 people working on payment reconciliation. After automating, this number dropped to 12, with 88 people being repurposed in positions that added more value for the business.

Immediacy and speed

This is a recurring theme when speaking about technology – it’s ability to take processes that have traditionally taken a long time and make it almost instant.

No more waiting weeks, with automated reconciliation in place, businesses have a single version of the truth the next morning. Being this much closer to the coalface empowers businesses to make the right decisions quicker.

In addition to reconciling, automation identifies exceptions on a transactional basis. Doing this at speed enables the business to investigate the cause of the exception quickly.

An exception might be a recorded sale without an accompanying settlement from the bank.

A further piece of the automation value is being able to configure business rules that automate the action the retailer takes around those exceptions.

Accuracy

Human error is removed from the equation. If one considers that a typical medium-sized retailer will wait two to three weeks to gain a view of its position at the previous month end, it becomes clear how many opportunities there are for mistakes to creep in. Monotonous tasks are the breeding ground of human error.

Automation gives peace of mind that what you see is the truth, removing the typical 1 to 3% error factor.

Automating fees and commissions

There are many different types of transactions and tender types that retailers need to enable, in order to meet their customers’ expectations.

This all increases the complexity of the environment. For example, if a customer buys a bottle of cooking oil, he or she could pay with cash, card, wallet or even a voucher pin linked to a loyalty programme.

Beyond this, VAS has added immense complexity to a retailer’s environment. Consider a R10 airtime voucher.

Either the airtime is bought on consignment or it is bought in real time. Obviously, a certain fee must go to the telecoms provider. Now, imagine that the store is a franchise branch, meaning that within that transaction, a part must go to the telecoms provider, another to the franchisor, and the remaining amount to the bank account.

The best automation software not only builds in automated reconciliation for these complex transactions that result in varying fees and commissions payable, it also extends to settlement instructions that communicate with the bank for the payment of the fees.

The automated future

There’s little doubt that the days of spreadsheets are over. Automated reconciliation helps businesses investigate and solve upstream problems much easier and quicker in a congested ecosystem.

In addition to this, underpinned by strong data governance and compliance, retailers know that the integrity of the data is sound.

In a hyper competitive world where speed, safety and accuracy of data is paramount for the right decisions to be made, retailers need to calculate the cost of not automating and weigh it against the very real and measurable benefits of investing in good automation software, implemented by partners who have a proven track record.

The program WASH INNOVATION FAIR 2.0 which took place on the 27th of April 2023 was organised through the partnership of the Financial Centre for Sustainability, Lagos (FC4S LAGOS), the Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre (NCIC) and IHS Towers was inspired by FMDQ

Five Nigerian startups were awarded the sum of N3.5 million each and a 4-month mentorship programme for creating innovative solutions to address Water Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) challenges in Nigeria.

Congratulations to the winners and innovators who used the opportunity to meet pitch and engage with thought leaders.

The program was created to allow innovators engage with leaders of sustainable growth in the WASH Sector.