All about Business.
MarketForce, a Kenyan B2B retail and financial services distribution startup, has expanded into five more African markets to grow RejaReja, its retailer’super app’ that allows informal merchants to order and pay for inventory digitally, accept payments for utility bills, and access financing for their businesses. After successful pilot programs, the startup has announced the expansion…
Mastercard and Meta are collaborating to support the digitization and growth of SMEs in the MEA (Middle East and Africa) region by hosting a training webinar with industry experts and a masterclass on how to manage uncertainty with renowned author and academic Nathan Furr, Associate Professor of Strategy at INSEAD. SMEs face numerous challenges, including…
On Monday, Alibaba announced a reorganization of its international and domestic e-commerce businesses, as well as the appointment of a new chief financial officer. The changes come as Alibaba faces multiple headwinds, including increased competition, a slowing economy, and regulatory scrutiny. In order to become more agile and accelerate growth, Alibaba announced the formation of…
Carry1st, one of Africa’s leading mobile game publishers, today announced a partnership with PayPal and Chipper Cash, a cross-border payments company recently valued at $2 billion, to enable people across Africa to purchase virtual goods and services online in an easy and secure manner. Following these collaborations, consumers across Africa will be able to purchase…
Square is changing its name to Block as it expands beyond its credit card reader business and focuses on blockchain technology. According to the company, the new name, which will take effect on December 10, “acknowledges the company’s expansion” and “creates an opportunity for further growth.” Block will continue to trade on the New York…
MTN Nigeria, Nigeria’s largest telco, has announced that beginning on Wednesday, 1 December 2021, retail investors will be able to purchase up to 575 million shares held in MTN Nigeria at 169 per share, which is lower than its stock market share price. This public offering is consistent with MTN Group’s commitment to gradually reduce…
Fixit45, a Nigerian autotech platform, has announced the acquisition of Parkit, a platform that provides a wide range of auto care services. The move, according to the startup, was made to help it fulfill its commitment to facilitate value-creating interactions among stakeholders in the automotive industry. Following the acquisition, Fixit45 will now focus on repairs…
MediSpark, a Nigerian startup, bills itself as the “Truepill for Africa,” and the business is hard at work developing an ecosystem of APIs and SaaS solutions to synchronize data across Africa’s disparate healthcare systems. Ugo Nwokoro and Gbenga Oyeniyi, who have known and worked together since 2016, created MediSpark. Nwokoro and his family have been…
Prof. Pat Utomi, a political economist and management specialist, and professionals in the integrated marketing communication industry have urged businesses to reconsider their strategies and business models, as well as work within legal frameworks, in order to weather the volatility of the Nigerian economy. This was revealed by experts during the second edition of Brandcomfest…
With its upgraded Airtel Africa Developer Portal, Airtel Money, the mobile money platform, is driving greater efficiency for businesses to engage in seamless mobile money activity. The portal integrates remote payments with Airtel Money wallets using several Open APIs and solutions to provide greater ease of access to Airtel Money services across multiple business sectors…
Dayo Koleowo’s career path has taken him from construction to food delivery to venture capital, but he believes the lessons he has learned will serve him well as he backs innovative African tech startups with early-stage VC firm Microtraction. Koleowo studied Quantity Surveying at university and went to work in the public sector preparing bills…
The Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria (BICCoN) has questioned the Central Bank of Nigeria’s recent actions in imposing a new ban on user accounts linked to crypto-related activity. In a news release, the blockchain collaborative body criticized the Central Bank of Nigeria’s recent “overreach.” Remember that the CBN ordered banks to stop processing cryptocurrency-related…
According to Cellulant, the growth seen in Kenya is reflective of the payments landscape in the rest of Africa, with a noticeable shift in consumer behavior. As more consumers prefer digital platforms as their primary payment method, digital payments have evolved from a nice-to-have for businesses to a requirement. According to Faith Nkatha, Cellulant’s Kenyan…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, today announces that its subsidiary Airtel Mobile Commerce Nigeria has been granted approval in principle by the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate as a super agent in Nigeria. The super agent licence is distinct from the Payment…
The emergence of ecommerce in Africa has seen online shoppers take advantage of the convenience it offers, as goods can now be delivered directly to their doorsteps while they also have the flexibility of selecting the payment channel either using their debit cards or payment upon delivery option. However, as ecommerce continues to evolve and shape how business is…
Innovectives, a transaction solutions company focused on making wealth possible through innovation, has launched a five-year mandate to empower 1 Million SMEs across frontier markets. Innovectives is a member of US-based Index Group, with over 8 years operating experience in digital financial services covering key markets in Africa and Europe. According Emmanuel Agha, the group…
Nigerian tech start-up TeamApt is in the market raising its third round of funding at a value of more than US$1-billion (R15.2-billion), which will result in the banking software firm joining a spate of Africa-tech companies to become so-called unicorns. The Lagos-based company is targeting to raise about $150-million, said founder and CEO Tosin Eniolorunda in…
Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) has disclosed plans to launch N50 million Innovation Development Fund (IDF), TechEconomy.ng can authoritatively report. The NCS will launch the fund – a startup grant – tagged ‘Innovation Development Fund’ at this year’s National Information Technology Merit Awards (NITMA) conference and awards, TechEconomy.ng gathered. Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) as the umbrella…
VC4A is launching another round of the Mentor-Driven Capital (MDC) programs for 2022 in January in Egypt and Somaliland, with MDC in Nigeria kicking off Spring 2022. MDC is supported by the Work in Progress program, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with Oxfam being the lead program implementer. Mentorship is a critical factor…
Global losses from payment fraud have tripled from $9.84 billion in 2011 to $32.39 billion in 2020, according to Deutsche Bank’s 2021 report on the future of payments. And financial professionals are saying COVID-19 hasn’t helped matters, with 65% believing that the global pandemic is to blame for some of the accelerated rate in fraud…
In today’s data-driven world, the capacity to handle and interpret intricate data relationships is more critical than before. Gamaliel Okotie, a senior data scientist with a deep focus on advanced machine learning, has been at the forefront of pioneering methods for complex data representation leveraging Graph Neural Networks. His work in this evolving domain is…
Toshiba’s board has approved a plan to split the storied Japanese conglomerate into three companies, it announced Friday, following tension with shareholders and a controversial takeover offer. The announcement confirms reports earlier in the week that said management was under pressure from shareholders to maximise the firm’s value by dividing its businesses. The proposal aims…
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and African e-commerce platform Jumia, announced today a partnership in support of Giga’s work to connect every school to the Internet and every young person to information, opportunity, and choice. Jumia’s data science capacity will offer Giga insights into the economic benefits of increased connectivity, helping to make the case for…