NCC ready to implement Govt’s decision on 5G deployment – Danbatta Written By Yinka Okeowo Following the statement by Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim?? Pantami, minister of Communications and Digital Economy, revealing the Federal Government’s position on the deployment of 5G networks in Nigeria, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, the executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has said…
Message reactions are coming to WhatsApp Written By Tyler Lee Sometimes certain messages don’t always warrant or need a reply. Sometimes replying just “OK” or “lol” seems a bit rude, but it seems that in the future, you can just react to your WhatsApp messages. This is according to the folks at WABetaInfo who discovered…
Nigeria! Huawei Apps UP 2021 is here, where are your Apps? Written By Yinka Okeowo The HUAWEI Apps UP 2021 contest is in full swing and all mobile App developers across the African continent are invited to showcase their best work. HUAWEI is reminding all App developer superstars that there are many reasons they might…
Egypt’s MaxAB acquires Morocco’s WaystoCap after securing $15m extra funding Written By TOM JACKSON Egyptian retail-tech startup MaxAB has acquired Moroccan counterpart WaystoCap as it plots expansion into the Maghreb region after adding US$15 million to the US$40 million Series A round it secured last month. Founded in 2018 by Egyptian and Libyan entrepreneurs Belal…
African fintech startups among 11 selected for Mastercard Start Path programme Written By TOM JACKSON South Africa’s Karri Payments and Kenya’s Kwara are among 11 fintech startups from around the world selected to join the Mastercard Start Path global network to scale innovation. Mastercard’s six-month Start Path programme is a springboard to help the best and brightest…
Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to reboot brand-client relationships Written by Michael Gorman Marketing automation has usually focused on driving sales, mainly using past purchase or late funnel behavior (e.g., paid search) as a predictor of an imminent purchase. While effective at boosting sales numbers, this widely implemented strategy can result in a disservice to brands and…
Google sounds the alarm over nasty Chrome vulnerabilities Written by By Anthony Spadafora Seven high-severity vulnerabilities have been discovered in Google Chrome Google is urging users of its browser to update Google Chrome immediately after seven high-severity vulnerabilities have been discovered. The vulnerabilities in question affect all desktop versions of the search giant’s browser regardless of whether a user is…
Here’s why Xiaomi is getting rid of Mi branding for its upcoming products Written by HARISH JONNALAGADDA For the last seven years, Xiaomi has released products in two distinct product lines: Mi and Redmi. The Mi-branded phones were reserved for the mid-tier and high-end categories, while Redmi devices accounted for the budget segment. This strategy…
Kenya’s MarketForce raises further $100k funding from Harambeans Prosperity Fund Written by TOM JACKSON Kenyan retail-tech startup had added an additional US$100,000 in funding from the Harambeans Prosperity Fund to the US$2 million pre-Series A round it announced last month. Co-founded in 2018 by Tesh Mbaabu and Mesongo Sibuti, MarketForce enables consumer brands to optimise how they deliver…
Egyptian car parts marketplace Odiggo raises $2.2m expansion funding Written By TOM JACKSON Egyptian startup Odiggo, a digital marketplace for automotive spare parts, has closed a US$2.2 million funding round to help it continue to expand into new markets. Founded in 2018 by Ahmed Omar and Ahmed Nasser, Odiggo links customers with vendors in order to purchase…
Facebook Bringing Voice and Video Calls Back to the Main App Written by DAVE LECLAIR Facebook has splintered chat away from the main Facebook app to move people over to its Messenger app. However, the company is looking to bring people back to the primary Facebook app by adding voice and video calls. Bloomberg is reporting that…
Check your permissions: default settings in Microsoft tool exposes 38 million user records online By James Vincent Thankfully, there’s no evidence the data has been exploited Default permissions settings in an app-building tool from Microsoft have been blamed for exposing the data of 38 million people online. Information including names, email addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, and…
The Federal Government of Nigeria, on Monday, unveiled indigenous health social innovations which when developed, would contribute positively in improving healthcare delivery in the country. The unveiling was done by the Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, in Abuja. The innovations were made possible through the Social Innovations in Health (SIHI) Nigeria Hub, a…
Africa Tech Alliance Forum (AfriTECH2021), has offered stakeholders in the telecommunications and ICT sector the platform to showcase solutions to drive digital transformation on the continent. The TechEconomy.ng’s annual event formerly known as Mobile & Disruptive Technology Forum (MoDiTECH) has been scheduled to take place on Wednesday, October 13, 2021 by 10:00am (WAT). The hydride event with…
Ethiopia hints on launching social networking platforms, rules out Facebook, others from country Writen by Joan Aimuengheuwa Ethiopia has embarked on the development of its own social networking platform in opposition to Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Zoom. Shumete Gizaw, director-general of the Information Network Security Agency (INSA), Ethiopia, accused Facebook of widely spreading a wrong…
SA virtual accelerator Sw7 builds on offering with formal AWS partnership Written by TOM JACKSON South Africa’s Sw7, which claims to be Africa’s largest virtual business accelerator, is looking to up the ante of its content and support for thousands of African enterprises by tapping into a formula partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), the…
Tunisia’s Junior Robotics Lab scaling cloud-based learning platform across borders Written by TOM JACKSON Having started life as a simple robotics club, Tunisian ed-tech startup Junior Robotics Lab now has resellers in various African and European markets, and is targeting further growth. Born in 2017 as an organiser of robotics clubs, with kids starting from…
African fintech OPay valued at $2B in SoftBank Vision Fund 2-led $400M funding Written by Tage Kene-Okafor Chinese-backed and Africa-focused fintech company OPay raised $400 million in new financing led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Bloomberg reported Monday, valuing the company at $2 billion. The round, which marks the fund’s first investment in an African startup, drew…
Mobility startup Plentywaka picks up $1.2M seed, acquires Ghana’s Stabus Written by Tage Kene-Okafor Lagos and Toronto-based mobility startup Plentywaka has raised a $1.2 million seed round to scale its operations on the back of leaving the Techstars Toronto accelerator program last month. Canadian-based VC firm The Xchange led the round, SOSV and Shock Ventures participated, while…
Are Our Smartphones Making Us Dopamine Addicts? Ask, addiction expert Dr. Anna Lembke. Written by David “According to addiction expert Dr Anna Lembke, our smartphones are making us dopamine junkies,” reports the Guardian, “with each swipe, like and tweet feeding our habit…”As the chief of Stanford University’s dual diagnosis addiction clinic (which caters to people with…
Google has apparently been paying phone manufacturers not to install third-party app stores. Written by Tyler Lee Google’s Android operating system is seen as being more “open” compared to Apple’s iOS platform. Users can install apps from outside the Play Store, and if they wanted, they could even download and install third-party app stores like…
New business registration forms will be available by end of August – CAC. Written by David Oladele The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has disclosed that the two new forms of business registration provided by the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA 2020) will be available for Nigerians by the end of August 2021. The registrar…
Is public shaming by online lending platforms that gives loan a legal or criminal?- A legal perspective Written by Ejike Kanife Nigeria is a country with millions of people existing in abject lack. With an unemployment rate of 33.3%, the country has the second-highest rate on the global ranking. According to a Bloomberg report, about 23.5…
Is Uber raising your fare based on your battery percentage? Written By Aleksandar Anastasov The topic of privacy has been a heated one for some time now, and if you are wary of large companies taking a peek into your life without you knowing, you would not be the only one. Recently, a Twitter user reported…
Crypto-currency adoption in Africa: The ups and downs Challenges include a lack of reliable internet and a lack of financial literacy. Written by Eugene Yiga Africa is booming in terms of cryptocurrency adoption, according to the 2020 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report by Chainalysis – a blockchain analysis company that provides data, software, services, and research…
Unlocking the potential of blockchain technology Written by Zach Winn Algorand uses a unique architecture developed by MIT Professor Silvio Micali to offer a decentralized, secure, and scalable blockchain. The Republic of the Marshall Islands is a country of around 50,000 people spread across more than 1,000 islands in a remote part of the Pacific…
The Six Biggest Blockchain Trends Everyone Should Know About In 2021 Written by Bernard Marr Blockchain has been one of the most talked-about tech trends of the last few years. As with many other trends that were important before the pandemic hit, it didn’t make as many headlines in 2021 as it has done previously….
Here’s How to Know When It’s Time to Pivot Your Online Business Written by Christine Hansen Even if you have an absolutely perfect business idea, there will inevitably come a time in which you have to pivot. Pivoting is a normal, natural part of the business development process — particularly for service-based entrepreneurs. With that…
As the market for Virtual Reality (VR) is growing rapidly, these are the 5 VR Startups to Watch in 2021 Written By Adriaan Brits The market for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology, which uses advanced displays and movement-tracking to immerse its users in a particular experience, is set to grow at a rapid clip in the coming…
South African e-health VitruvianMD raises 8-figure ZAR funding round Written By TOM JACKSON South African e-health startup VitruvianMD has raised an eight-figure ZAR – so at least ZAR10 million (US$659,000) – funding round in order to scale its tech and launch more pilots. Founded last year, VitruvianMD combines biomedical engineering and state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver…