We share your information, including Personal Data, as follows:

Service Providers, and Subcontractors

We disclose information, including Personal Data we collect from and/or about you, to our trusted service providers and subcontractors, who have agreed to confidentiality restrictions and who use such information solely on our behalf in order to: (1) help us provide you with the Platform; (2) aid in their understanding of how users are using our Platform; (3) for the purpose of direct marketing (see above for more details).

Such service providers and subcontractors provide us with payment processing services, IT and system administration services, data backup, security, and storage services, data analysis, provide marketing services and assist in the operation of the Platform and services thereon.

Business Transfers

Your Personal Data may be disclosed as part of, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets or acquisition (including in cases of liquidation) in such case, your Personal Data shall continue being subject to the provisions of this Privacy Policy.

Law Enforcement Related Disclosure

We may share your Personal Data with third parties: (i) if we believe in good faith that disclosure is appropriate to protect our or a third party’s rights, property or safety (including the enforcement this Privacy Policy); (ii) when required by law, regulation subpoena, court order or other law enforcement related issues, agencies and/or authorities; or (iii) as is necessary to comply with any legal and/or regulatory obligation.

Legal Uses

We may use your Personal Data as required or permitted by any applicable law, for example, to comply with audit and other legal requirements.

ARTICLE 3. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER

We use subcontractors and service providers who are located in countries other than your own and send them information we receive (including Personal Data). We conduct such international transfers for the purposes described above. We will ensure that these third parties will be subject to written agreements ensuring the same level of privacy and data protection as set forth in this Privacy Policy, including appropriate remedies in the event of the violation of your data protection rights in such third country.

Whenever we transfer your Personal Data to third parties based outside of the European Economic Area (“EEA“), we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

• We will only transfer your Personal Data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for Personal Data by the European Commission.
• Where we use certain service providers not located in countries with an adequate level of protection as determined by the European Commission, we may use specific contracts approved by the European Commission which give Personal Data the same protection it has in the EEA.
• Where we use service providers based in the US, we may transfer Personal Data to them if they have been certified by the EU-US Privacy Shield, which requires them to provide similar protection to Personal Data shared between the EU and the US or any other arrangement which has been approved by the European Commission or other body having jurisdiction to approve such arrangement.

Please contact us at privacy@empowerafrica.com if you would like further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your Personal Data out of the EEA.

ARTICLE 4. LENGTH OF DATA RETENTION

Subject to applicable law, we retain Personal Data as necessary for the purposes set forth above. We may delete information from our systems without notice to you once we deem it is no longer necessary for these purposes. Retention by any of our processors may vary in accordance with the processor’s retention policy.

In some circumstances, we may store your Personal Data for longer periods of time, for instance where we are required to do so in accordance with legal, regulatory, tax, audit, accounting requirements and so that we have an accurate record of your dealings with us in the event of any complaints or challenges, or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation relating to your Personal Data or dealings. To determine the appropriate retention period, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the Personal Data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your Personal Data, the purposes for which we process your Personal Data, and whether those purposes can be achieved through other means, as well as applicable legal requirements.

Subject to your consent, we may retain your Profile Information and continue to make such information publicly available to other users following the termination of your account. You can revoke your consent at any time by sending us an email to privacy@empowerafrica.com.

Please contact us at privacy@empowerafrica.com if you would like details regarding the retention periods for different types of your Personal Data.

ARTICLE 5. EXERCISE OF THE USERS’ RIGHTS

Subject to certain exemptions, and in some cases dependent upon the processing activity we are undertaking, you have certain rights in relation to the Personal Data that we hold about you, as detailed below. We will investigate and attempt to resolve complaints and disputes and make every reasonable effort to honor your wish to exercise your rights as quickly as possible and, in any event, within the timescales provided by applicable data protection laws. We reserve the right to ask for reasonable evidence to verify your identity before we provide you with any information and/or comply with any of your requests, as detailed below:

• Right of Access. You have a right to know what Personal Data we collect about you and, in some cases, to have such Personal Data communicated to you. Subject to applicable law, we may charge you with a fee. Please note that we may not be able to provide you with all the information you request, and, in such case, we will endeavor to explain to you why.
• Right to Data Portability. If the processing is based on your consent or performance of a contract with you and processing is being carried out by automated means, you may be entitled to (request that we) provide you or another party with a copy of the Personal Data you provided to us in a structured, commonly-used, and machine-readable format.
• Right to Correct Personal Data. Subject to the limitations in applicable law, you may request that we update, complete, correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated Personal Data.
• Deletion of Personal Data (“Right to Be Forgotten”). You have a right to request that we delete your Personal Data if either: (i) it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected, (ii) our processing was based on your consent and you have withdrawn your consent, (iii) you have successfully exercised your Right to Object (see below), (iv) processing was unlawful, or (iv) we are required to erase it for compliance with a legal obligation. We cannot restore information once it has been deleted. Please note that to ensure that we do not collect any further Personal Data, you should also delete our Platform from your mobile devices, terminate your account with us, and clear our cookies from any device where you have used our Platform. We may retain certain Personal Data (including following your request to delete) for audit and record-keeping purposes, or as otherwise permitted and/or required under applicable law.
• Right to Restrict Processing. You can ask us to limit the processing of your Personal Data if either: (i) you have contested its accuracy and wish us to limit processing until this is verified; (ii) the processing is unlawful, but you do not wish us to erase the Personal Data; (iii) it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected, but we still need it to establish, exercise, or defend of a legal claim; (iv) you have exercised your Right to Object (below) and we are in the process of verifying our legitimate grounds for processing. We may continue to use your Personal Data after a restriction request under certain circumstances.
• Direct Marketing Opt Out. You can change your mind at any time about your election to receive marketing communications from us and/or having your Personal Data processed for direct marketing purposes. If you do, please notify us by contacting us at privacy@empowerafrica.com. We will process your request as soon as reasonably possible, however it may take a few days for us to update our records before any opt out is effective.
• Right to Object. You can object to any processing of your Personal Data which has our legitimate interests as its legal basis, if you believe your fundamental rights and freedoms outweigh our legitimate interests. If you raise an objection, we have an opportunity to demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate interests which override your rights and freedoms.
• Withdrawal of Consent. You may withdraw your consent in connection with any processing of your Personal Data based on a previously granted consent. This will not affect the lawfulness of any processing prior to such withdrawal.
• Right to Lodge a Complaint with Your Local Supervisory Authority. You may have the right to submit a complaint to the relevant supervisory data protection authority if you have any concerns about how we are processing your Personal Data, though we ask that as a courtesy you please attempt to resolve any issues with us first. The competent supervisory authorities are listed on the following website: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/article-29/structure/data-protection-authorities/index_en.htm

You may exercise your rights, as described above, by sending an email to the following address privacy@empowerafrica.com provided that the you verify your identity in accordance with applicable law.

ARTICLE 6. COOKIE MANAGEMENT CONFIGURATION AND OTHER DATA

Your consent to the use and placement of cookies, as described herein, is requested through a banner at the bottom of the Platform homepage.

The User may at all times configure its browser in order to prevent the placement of cookie files. However, certain functionalities of the services proposed by the Platform may not function properly without cookies. In addition, even if most browsers are configured by default to accept cookie files, you may choose to accept the placement of all cookies other than the functional cookies or to systematically decline them or to choose the cookies it accepts depending on the issuer by configuring the following settings:

• Internet Explorer
  • Click on the settings menu, followed by “Internet Options”;
  • Under the “General” tab on the upper-left hand side, scroll down to “Browsing history”;
  • Check the “Temporary Internet files and website files,” “Cookies and website data,” “History,” and “Download History” boxes;
  • Click on “Delete”;
  • Close out of Internet Explorer and reopen it for changes to take effect.
• Firefox:
  • Click on your Tools bar;
  • Click on “Preferences”;
  • On the menu to the right, select “Privacy”;
  • Under the “history option”, there is a shortcut titled “clear your recent history”, click on that;
  • Select only the top four options and hit clear now.
• Safari:
  • Click on “Safari” in the top left corner of the finer bar;
  • Click on “Preferences”;
  • Click on the “Privacy” tab;
  • Click on “Manage Website Data”;
  • Click on “Remove All”;
  • Click “Remove Now”.
• Google Chrome:
  • Click the Tools menu;
  • Click on “More tools”;
  • Clear browsing data;
  • At the top, choose a time range.
  • To delete everything, select “All time”;
  • Next to “Cookies and other site data” and “Cached images and files”, check the boxes;
  • Click on “Clear data”.

ARTICLE 7. SECURITY

We have implemented and maintain appropriate technical and organization security measures, policies and procedures designed to reduce the risk of accidental destruction or loss, or the unauthorized disclosure or access to Personal Data appropriate to the nature of such data. The measures we take include:

Safeguards – The physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards we employ to protect your Personal Data include secure servers, antivirus and SSL encryption of data.

Access Controls – The data of our users are accessible only to the persons duly authorized to do so by the Company on a need to know basis for the purposes set forth herein.

Personnel – We require new employees to sign non-disclosure agreements according to applicable law and industry customary practice.

Encryption – We encrypt the data in transit using secure SSL protocols.

Database Backup – Our databases are backed up on a periodic basis for certain data and are verified regularly. Backups are encrypted and stored within the production environment to preserve their confidentiality and integrity, are tested regularly to ensure availability, and are accessible only by authorized personnel.

ARTICLE 8. COMMUNICATIONS

We reserve the right to send you service-related communications, including service announcements and administrative messages, without offering you the opportunity to opt out of receiving them. Should you not wish to receive such communications, you may cancel your account.

ARTICLE 9. CHILDREN

We do not knowingly collect Personal Data from children under the age of sixteen (16). In the event that you become aware that an individual under the age of sixteen (16) has enrolled without parental permission, please advise us immediately.

ARTICLE 10. CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY POLICY

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to keep it up to date with legal requirements and the way we operate our business, and we will place any updates on this webpage. Please come back to this page every now and then to make sure you are familiar with the latest version. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will seek to inform you by notice on the Platform or per email.

ARTICLE 11. COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

If you have any comments or questions about this Privacy Policy or if you wish to exercise any of your legal rights as set out herein, please contact us at privacy@empowerafrica.com.

Date of privacy policy: February 2020