All about Business.
The company formerly known as Facebook has been discussing the possibility of opening retail stores way before it rebranded itself as Meta, according to The New York Times. Apparently, discussions about opening brick-and-mortar shops started last year, though nothing has been finalized, and the project could still end up being scrapped. If Meta does open physical outlets, however,…
Africa’s telecommunication giant, MTN, has announced its plan to sell 101 billion naira ($244 million) worth of shares in its Nigerian carrier unit as it continues to dispose of its assets to pay off existing debts. According to a statement released by the mobile-network operator on Thursday, it will issue 575 million shares in MTN…
There are many uncertainties in business and the more a business begins to grow, the more there is an increase in the number of uncertainties, which could be expanding to a new geographical location, promoting team members to handle more challenging task, engaging in the production of a new line of products or seeking partnerships…
Nigerian e-commerce platform, MallforAfrica has announced the shut down of its operations. The MallforAfrica app is no longer on the Google Playstore and Apple Store. A closure notice written on its website read this: “Dear Amazing Customers, At this time MallforAfrica is no longer taking any orders. We appreciate your patronage over the years and…
I have read and digested the very comprehensive independent submission made by e-Live consultant, Kelvin Mulungwe on the e-commerce race in Africa between Jumia and Konga. The submission is one I recommend for all young African entrepreneurs who want to mount the global stage as successful entrepreneurs. This is a very important investigation which basically…
Telkom Kenya Limited, the Helios Investment Partners and Government of Kenya joint venture, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Ericsson, the telecommunications company, and NEC XON, the systems integrator, to add 2,000 wireless sites onto Telkom Kenya’s network by 2023. The approximately $100-million nationwide rollout is part of Telkom Kenya’s long-term network expansion…
Standard Bank, Africa’s largest bank by assets, has partnered with Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company, to enhance digital payments across Africa. Flutterwave and Standard Bank are collaborating to build e-commerce, card issuing, payments, collections, USSD, lending, and buy-now-pay-later capabilities for customers in Nigeria, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Mauritius, Cote D’Ivoire and Malawi. The integration will help customers…
Nigerian startup AmplifiHub has developed an online platform that empowers music producers, arrangers and songwriters in Africa to connect with more customers and make more money. Founded in 2019, AmplifiHub provides musicians with revenue generating opportunities like owning an online beat store, connects them with potential customers via a chat feature, and helps them collaborate with creative…
Applications are open for the Yunus Environment Hub’s GrowUp incubation programme, which is seeking solutions for sustainable food systems in East Africa. The Yunus Environment Hub (YEH) is the global social business network that creates solutions for the environmental crisis. Co-founded and led by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus, the YEH supports and develops social…
Mastercard has partnered with MoneyFellows, the digitized ROSCA (Rotating Saving and Credit Association) system, to offer MoneyFellows customers a range of new digital solutions and services that will help drive the expansion of Egypt’s digital economy. MoneyFellows has taken the traditional ROSCA model, or “Game’eya” as referred to by Egyptians, into the digital age by offering…
KongaPay, a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-licensed fintech platform, is on course to grow its active subscriber base to over three million by 2022, data released by the company has shown. The mobile money platform, the leading provider of digital services for e-commerce shoppers in Nigeria, is one of the thriving subsidiaries within the Konga…
Apple lost its crown as the world’s most valuable public company to Microsoft on Friday, as the iPhone maker’s shares fell about 2 percent. Apple took a $6 billion hit to its sales during the fiscal fourth quarter due to persistent global supply chain problems, leading to a miss on Wall Street expectations. Top boss Tim…
Facebook’s rebranding as Meta has been followed up with the acquisition of Within, the company behind VR workout service Supernatural. As per The Verge, Meta recently revealed that the studio behind Supernatural will be joining the company, adding to the roster of studios owned by what used to be known as Facebook’s Oculus division. The company said that Within will continue…
Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, has launched a comprehensive sustainability strategy which sets out its detailed plans to improve the lives of millions of people across Africa through digital and financial inclusion and access to education. The strategy also includes specific goals around environmental…
Zipline, the global leader in instant logistics, has celebrated five years in flight since its launch in Rwanda in 2016. The company, which on average makes a delivery every four minutes, recently surpassed 200,000 commercial deliveries, the most of any unnamed aircraft system (UAS) company to date. This marks a significant acceleration over the last…
Facebook on Thursday announced it was changing the parent company’s name to “Meta.” Following the move, many people saw the rebranding exercise as an excuse to have a go at the social media giant. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was among them. He suggested that the new name of the company was confusing and it was…
A new strategic partnership has been announced in Africa’s telecom space as South African Liquid Intelligent Technologies (Liquid) and Orange, a French telecom and one of the largest telecom companies in Africa, sign a deal to leverage each other’s existing networks in Africa, allowing them even greater access and opportunity to build their businesses throughout…
The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) announced that Flutterwave, a global payments technology company, has launched two new remittance corridors between Europe and Africa on the Stellar network. Working with TEMPO, Flutterwave is leveraging the Stellar network and Stellar USDC to simplify remittances in Africa. Opening these new corridors will greatly benefit businesses focused on building more efficient, cost-effective remittance services, contributing to a stronger, more inclusive…
A failed entrepreneur turned pretty successful investor, Brian Odhiambo is West Africa director and part of the leadership team at Novastar Ventures, which manages more than US$200 million across two venture funds, with 22 companies in its portfolio. Odhiambo grew up in Nairobi, and after a childhood spent travelling between boarding school in Kenya and…
Estonian on-demand transport firm Bolt is set to roll out electric taxi options in South Africa four months after introducing e-bike food delivery services in the country. Bolt’s plan follows the introduction of a ‘green category’ – which lets riders hail an electric or a hybrid vehicle. This comes as the company expands its services to environmentally…
A recent survey by Outsized found that many business leaders are open to this idea of a ‘blended workforce’ to help them become more agile and efficient. They expect that 15-30% of their future staff will be short-term or project-specific hired hands rather than full-time employees. That backs up research by McKinsey in September 2020…
In the technology industry, the concept of metaverse — a range of virtual experiences — is becoming a buzzword. It generally refers to shared virtual environments that people can access via the internet. Most technology companies, including Facebook, have invested heavily in it. The social media giant says it is planning to invest up to…
Africa’s leading e-commerce platform, Jumia, has published its first Africa e-commerce report, Jumia Africa e-Commerce Index 2021 with a Nigerian section, which leveraged data from the company’s platform to illustrate the importance of shopping online in a pandemic context. The shift to everyday products during COVID-19, is part of a broader economic transformation led by the continent’s…
Black Friday is the retail holiday in many countries across the globe. The phenomenon was popularised in the US as a means for retailers to sell enormous quantities of stock at lower prices, and it has proven to be a successful event year after year. In South Africa, the Black Friday phenomenon began fairly recently…
The co-investment fund Catalytic Africa, established in 2019 by the African Business Angels Network (ABAN) and AfriLabs, has concluded a successful pilot and will now launch full operations. The partnership between AfriLabs, a pan-African network of technology and innovation centres, and ABAN aims to increase the pool of capital available to promising African growth-stage entrepreneurs, support the startup…
Tesla’s market valuation hit and then surpassed the $1 trillion mark Monday, a milestone reached by the company 11 years after it became a publicly traded company. It also puts Tesla in select company with Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google, all of which have market caps above $1 trillion. Tesla met the $1 trillion market…
Mastercard has appointed Gabriel Swanepoel as the new Country Manager for Mastercard in South Africa. This serves as a promotion from his current role as the VP of Business Integration for Mastercard, Southern Africa. As country manager, Swanepoel is responsible for further driving the company’s strategic vision, innovation and growth agenda, and building on its…
After two years of operation, DHL Africa is shutting down its pan-African online retail platform, e-Shop, at the end of the month. “We are no longer accepting orders and this service will be closed effective October 30th, 2021. All orders in process will be shipped or refunded. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused,” a…
APO Group, a leading Pan-African communications consultancy has announced a multi-year strategic partnership with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), providing the public broadcaster with sports content from the whole of Africa and bringing sporting stories from the rest of the continent to South African audiences – much of it for the first time. SABC…
Nigeria on Monday became the first African nation to launch a digital currency – the eNaira – a move its leaders said will expand access to banking, enable more remittances and even grow the economy by billions of dollars. Africa’s most populous nation joins the Bahamas, the first to launch a general purpose central bank…