Traka, the global leader in intelligent key and equipment management solutions, today opened its first Experience Centres in Brisbane, Australia, and Johannesburg, South Africa, within the Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa (APACMEA) division. The Centres will provide an environment for Traka employees, technology partners, and end-users to immerse, educate, empower, and innovate through industry…
Black Friday sales are a fantastic experience for both shoppers and retailers. Shoppers receive massive discounts on products, while retailers smile from ear to ear as a result of massive sales. According to an online poll, the average customer is prepared to spend N62,250 during this year’s Black Friday sales. This is approximately 58 percent…
Telegram has announced the introduction of Sponsored Messages on its platform, a tool that will allow anyone to promote their channels and bots. Sponsored Messages will be visible in Telegram public channels with over a thousand subscribers. It will also be limited to 160 characters. The feature is currently in testing mode. The app will…
With the holiday season quickly approaching, South Africans and consumers worldwide may find fewer gift options on store shelves as a result of product shortages and delays caused by pandemic-related closures of ports and factories. According to a new global Oracle retail consumer research study, more shoppers are concerned that supply chain and delivery delays…
A group of state attorneys general is investigating Instagram and its effects on children and young adults, alleging that its parent company Facebook — now known as Meta Platforms — ignored internal research about the physical and mental health risks it posed to young people. A bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from California, Florida, Kentucky,…
Career 180, a Cairo-based ed-tech platform, has raised US$200,000 from EdVentures to expand its services and user reach. Career180, which was founded in 2016, assists young people in developing their skills for the labor market through counseling services, workshops, and theoretical or practical training programs in a variety of specialties. The startup, which provides career…
“Something good is a frontier; something better is also a frontier and something excellent is just another frontier! You can always go beyond these frontiers! And so what is excellent? Just a frontier!” — Mehmet Murat ildan “There exist limitless opportunities in every industry. Where there is an open mind, there will always be a…
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved a $150 million facility for ETC Group Limited to address the company’s working capital needs and to develop its agriculture value chain, which will benefit smallholder farmers. The AfDB stated that the investment would take the form of a trade and agri-finance package, including a $75 million…
MTN Group announced today that it is ceasing operations in Yemen, in the Middle East. The company has been steadily withdrawing from its Middle Eastern operations, having left Syria in August due to “intolerable” operating conditions. MTN is also in talks to sell its operations in Afghanistan. MTN’s exit from Yemen, according to the company,…
Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that Apple is pushing to launch its electric car as early as 2025 and refocusing the project on full self-driving capabilities, citing people familiar with the matter. Following the report, the iPhone maker’s stock rose nearly 3% to a new high. According to the report, Apple’s ideal car would lack…
Google Meet has introduced new immersive backgrounds and styles, allowing Web users to change their backgrounds while on a video call. The platform has introduced two new animated backdrops, Cafe and Condo, to help users represent their current time zone and climate. Both interiors will have multiple iterations, including rain, sun, and snow, as well…
Mobile FinTech Tingo has announced its collaboration with the decentralized cloud computing network Cudos to tackle the poverty premium through mobile monetization applications which will lead to the empowerment of over 9 million Nigerians, enabling them to earn an income from their smartphones. The significance of this collaboration extends to the whole industry as Cudos…
Facebook announced on Thursday that it is conducting a test that will give users a smidgeon more control over what they see on the platform. The test will be available for English-speaking users on Facebook’s app. It incorporates three sub-menus into Facebook’s menu for controlling what appears in the News Feed: friends and family, groups…
Millions of small businesses around the world have operated offline over the past decade, especially in emerging markets. As a result, most of them still rely on pens that use pen and paper or a list to store and store important information. In Nigeria, some people keep information on their head. All of these failures,…
Cellulant, a leading Pan-African payments firm, has teamed with Lake Harvest, one of Zambia’s leading fish distributors, to enable mobile payments using the Tingg one-stop digital payment platform in all of their shops. Lake Harvest has prioritized taking all types of mobile money to provide their consumers with a seamless payment experience as consumer shopping…
Egyptian fintech start-up KIWE has been working on venture capital strategies to support key investments to drive growth. Founded in March 2021 by Fatma Khalifa, Omar Kamel and Mohamed Khalifa, KIWE is a peer-to-peer currency exchange app that allows users to transfer money between themselves at a time. The startup said in a statement that…
Grammarly, the popular editing tool for writing beginners, has raised $ 200 million out of $ 13 billion from new investors, including funds and financings from Baillie Gifford and BlackRock. The company plans to use the capital to drive product innovation and team development. “I think this funding is a good testament to the strength…
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is taking a decisive regulatory move to ensure sustainability, profitability and fair competition in the Special Numbering Service (SNS) segment of the nation’s telecommunications sector. This move informed the decision of the Commission to hold a Stakeholders’ Forum on the ‘Determination of Call Termination Rate for Special Numbering Service Providers in Nigeria. ‘ The…
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Accelerator Labs and AfriLabs announced their partnership and the way forward with live and virtual events hosted by AfriLabs as part of Unified Outreach 2021. Year on October 29, 2021. AfriLabs Executive Director Anna Ekeledo and UNDP Nigeria Accelerator Lab Focal Point Senior Advisor William Tsuma attend a private…
Telecom26 today announced that longtime end users of SystemOne have chosen it to provide connectivity to new clinics across Angola and Nigeria. The two companies have previously worked together in Ghana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, and SystemOne has used the Telecom26 network to test more than 1.3 million blood samples for tuberculosis, HIV and COVID. These…
Instagram Badges has now officially started rolling out. The feature allows creators to earn money from their followers. Badges allow users to show support for creators during a Live video on the platform. Starting Wednesday, users aged 18 and above with more than 10,000 followers in select regions will be able to use Instagram Badges. Once…
Ozow, the South African payment gateway, raised $ 48 million in a Series B funding round to expand the availability of payment solutions. The financial environment has been led by Chinese internet giant Tencent and includes other investors such as Endeavor Catalyst and Endeavor Harvest Fund. Tencent, a major investor, donated $ 20 million, accounting…
Four African blockchain startups have been selected to participate in the CV Labs global incubation program run by venture capital firm CV VC, securing $ 125,000 in funding and additional support. CV VC, based in Switzerland, funds the seed and incubation program, CV Labs, for its global technology team in exchange for a stake. The…
Nigerian tech-enabled mobility startup Shuttlers has raised a US$1.6 million seed round and shared plans to scale operations across cities in Africa. Founded in 2016 by Damilola Olokesusi, Shuttlers allows commuters to move in comfort along selected routes at affordable rates, with trips along fixed routes going for up to 80 per cent lower than other ride-hailing…
TikTok has developed a bad reputation for harboring dangerous viral “challenges” in its application, which in the worst case, have resulted in serious injury or death, as in the case of the blackout challenge that prompted Italian regulators to take action. against the social network to remove underage users. More recently, the app has made…
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a statement regarding its observation on eNaira, the new digital currency of Nigeria’s central bank (CBDC). The IMF, in the statement, said: “The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) officially launched the ‘eNaira’, a central bank digital currency (CBDC), on October 25, 2021. This is the second CBDC fully…
Tyro, an Egyptian startup educational technology platform that connects students with qualified instructors through individual and group sessions, is acquiring Nafham, a social startup that offers free, crowd-sourced educational content, under a share swap agreement. Tyro is an online tutoring platform that connects students with the best professional instructors, and currently operates in Egypt, the…
Nokia said on Wednesday that it plans to launch a cloud-based software subscription service aimed at telecommunications companies to provide analytics, security and data management software. Many tech companies have been moving toward a subscription model from licensing in advance to building a predictable, recurring business. While part of Nokias’ software portfolio will be offered…
Microsoft, the global tech giant, is establishing the Africa Transformation Office as part of doubling its investment on the continent, as well as an effort to continue to enable “African-led for Africa” ??digital transformation. The company has also announced that the Africa Transformation Office (ATO) will be led by new Managing Director (MD) Wael Elkabbany….
Rwanda’s technology start-ups PesaChoice and Viebeg have raised seed funding from the Kigali-based Norrsken Foundation. Founded in 2016 by Niklas Adalberth, one of the founders of the Swedish fintech unicorn Klarna, Norrsken aims to help entrepreneurs solve the world’s biggest challenges. Disrupt Africa reported in 2019 that the Impact and Tech Entrepreneurship Support Foundation began…