Product Manager

From One PM to Another: Gaffes and Challenges of Product Managers

I write this as a product manager amongst many other product managers. Speaking to another product manager, you may realise that our challenges differ. You may also realise that there are similarities. Perspective is also another thing to consider because what another product manager sees as a challenge may not be a challenge for me….

Makro

South African Retailer, Makro Unveils Online Shopping App

The long-term digital and e-commerce transformation strategy of the parent business, Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Massmart, has announced the introduction of an online shopping app by South African retailer Makro. Makro claims that the app already has over 120,000 products available and will allow users to quickly and affordably purchase items from all of its categories….

African Union

African Union Announces New Digital Vaccination Platforms

At the Boma 2022 event, the African Union unveiled two major flagship initiatives: the African Vaccine Passport and eHealth backbone and a digital platform for quickening the AfCFTA‘s implementation. By using the PanaBIOS and UNDP-supported Global Haven protocols, the African Vaccine Passport enables every citizen of the African Union to obtain free digital proof of…

edtech

5 Hottest EdTech Companies in Africa

Africa has a growing economy with a large and vibrant population. Consequently, innovative EdTech founders of African descent are not leaving any stone unturned to create platforms that promote a customized learning experience for users. Distance is no longer a barrier. More so, students can now learn at their own pace. The Covid-19 pandemic contributed…

Hack the Mara
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“Hack the Mara” competition now open to African creators and developers to tackle last mile payment challenges

In line with its commitment to inspire developers to “build the future of Africa on Web3”, Mara, the Pan-African blockchain platform, is announcing the launch of the  “Hack The Mara” competition which will take place from 17th-26th of September 2022. The aim of the Mara Hackathon is to engage participants to create decentralised applications that…

Kofi Annan Award
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3 Startups Emerge Winners of 1st Kofi Annan Award for Innovation in Africa

The first Kofi Annan Award for Innovation in Africa has been given to three entrepreneurs from Kenya, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. Each will get a grant of EUR250,000 (US$250,000), international exposure, and long-term mentoring. The Kofi Annan Award seeks to assist in achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 3: “Good Health and Wellbeing” with its emphasis on…

Afreximbank
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Afreximbank provides grant to Grand Africa Initiative to train African youth entrepreneurs on delivering AfCFTA goals

Cairo, 18 July 2022 – African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has announced a grant to Grand Africa Initiative (GAIN) to train two hundred young African entrepreneurs on entrepreneurship and intra-African trade over a three-month period starting July 2022. The GAIN-Afreximbank Masterclass on Entrepreneurship and Intra-African Trade is a three-month programme designed to equip participants from across…

Essie Mokgonyana SAS

SAS Appoints Essie Mokgonyana as the New South Africa Country Manager

Essie Mokgonyana has been appointed by SAS as the brand’s country manager and sales director for South Africa. This hiring is in keeping with SAS’s goal to invest in expanding the business in South Africa, which is motivated by the demand for advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and cloud-based solutions. Essie Mokgonyana has more than 15…

Digsconnect

DigsConnect, South African Student Housing Startup Completes Pre-series A Funding Round

DigsConnect, a South African digital student housing platform, has closed a pre-Series A round of funding to drive its global expansion with a focus on assisting African students in the UK and US acquire more reasonably priced, practical, and secure housing. The DigsConnect website, developed by Alexandria Procter and Greg Ramsay-Keal, enables landlords, estate agents,…

Tech4Dev Women Techsters Fellowship

24 South African Women Qualify for the 2023’s Women Techsters Fellowship Class

Technology for Social Change and Development Initiative (Tech4Dev) in Lagos, Nigeria, has announced that a total of 24 South African women have been accepted for the Women Techsters Fellowship class of 2023. The Women Techsters program seeks to narrow the gender gap in digital and technological literacy and to ensure that everyone has equal access…

Flutterwave, Other African Fintech Startups Discontinue Virtual Card Service Indefinitely

Flutterwave, Other African Fintech Startups Discontinue Virtual Card Service Indefinitely

In an email received earlier today, the fintech startup Flutterwave announced that starting on Sunday, July 17, 2022, customers of Barter Card, a virtual dollar card service, will no longer be able to use it. According to the message, the service was terminated “due to an update from our card partner, which will result in…

GrowUp Incubator
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You can now Apply for the GrowUp Incubator Programme

Applications for the most recent iteration of the GrowUp Incubator Program, which seeks social business solutions for sustainable tourism and mobility in East Africa, are now being accepted by the Yunus Environment Hub (YEH). The Nobel Peace Prize winner Prof. Muhammad Yunus co-founded and serves as the executive director of YEH, a global social enterprise…

Capacity building

Why Digital Skills Capacity Building Is Important for Professionals in Africa

Capacity building is the improvement of an individual’s or organization’s facility to produce, perform or deploy. According to the United Nation, Capacity building is the process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities processes, and resources that organization and communities need to survive, adapt and thrive in a fast-changing world. Skill development and training are needed…

Multichoice

MultiChoice Announces a Training Programme to Improve the Content Quality for African TV

Multichoice has introduced a brand-new training program to transform the African TV industry, elevating professional competencies and raising the standard of content for viewers throughout the continent. MultiChoice, local television stations in several African countries, and the MultiChoice Talent Factory, the company’s industry-development and training program, will work together on the effort. Fhulufhelo Badugela, CEO…

Aceplora

Nigerian Startup Aceplora to Empower 10,000 Kids and Young Adults With the Hottest Tech Skills

Aceplora, an Edutech company in Nigeria, has reaffirmed its commitment to providing training to help children and young adults be adequately prepared to benefit from the abundance of job opportunities in the global tech space as part of efforts to increase information technology knowledge in the nation’s ICT ecosystem. Aceplora will offer instruction in a…

TechBridge and Moringa
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TechBridge Invest signs agreement with Moringa to promote Digital Skills for Tech Ventures in Mombasa

MOMBASA, Kenya, July 14th 2022…Moringa is excited to have TechBridge Invest onboard as a partner to facilitate training of students outside Nairobi. This partnership will see students from Mombasa join the 20 week Software Engineering course offered by Moringa as part of the tech institution’s mission to build talent and opportunities through tech based learning….

Zazuu

Zazuu, London-based Fintech Secures $2m to Offer Africans Seamless Solutions to Cross-border Payments

Zazuu, an Africa-focused fintech startup, has raised $2 million, which will be crucial in the company’s mission to reduce the inconsistency associated with remittance transactions for Africans. Zazuu is building a non-biased payment platform for cross-border payment solutions for Africans in the diaspora. Launch Africa, Founders Factory Africa, Hoaq Club, Tinie Tempah, Jason Njoku, CEO…

Sendsprint

Nigeria’s Sendsprint Unveils Money Transfer Services for African Diaspora in the UK

A new service from innovative company SendSprint Technology Solutions, which connects members of the African Diaspora to family back home by facilitating quick, easy, and hassle-free international transfers, has been launched in the UK. The African Diaspora is estimated to make up 1.7 million people in the UK. Damisi Busari, a former Flutterwave strategy lead,…

Swvl

Swvl, Egyptian Startup Acquires Mobility Startup Urbvan, Opens Mexican Office

An deal to purchase Urbvan, a mobility platform that offers tech-enabled mobility services in Mexico, has been made public by Swvl Holdings Corp, a global mobility as a service provider. The startup from Egypt will use this acquisition to expand into Mexico, the second most populous nation in Latin America. One of the rare instances…

African Leadership International

African Leadership International Agrees to Acquire Silicon Valley’s Holberto

In order to reshape Africa by producing three million entrepreneurial leaders by 2035, African Leadership International (ALI) has agreed to acquire Holberton Inc., a Silicon Valley-based project-based college alternative that trains the next wave of software engineers. The acquisition will give ALI ownership of the program for advanced technology, enabling ALI to give international businesses…

Paratus Angola
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ITA, Angolan Telecommunications Service Provider Rebrands to Paratus Angola

Internet Technologies Angola (ITA), a supplier of telecommunications services in Angola, has changed its name to Paratus Angola, placing it under the parent firm Paratus Group’s larger network. The rebranding, according to a statement from the company, aims to align ITA’s brand identity with that of the larger Paratus Group in order to support its…

AfyaRekod

Kenya’s HealthTech AfyaRekod Announces Universal Patient Portal for Global Health Data Mobility Management

AfyaRekod, a Kenya-based health technology business, has unveiled the world’s first completely automated universal patient portal, which was created using blockchain technology. This portal will revolutionize patient care in Africa and around the globe. Patients and the medical staff caring for them would have real-time access to their health data and medical history through a…

Med-Direct Africa

Med-Direct Africa Announces e-Pharmacy to Promote Last-mile Drug Delivery

A retail pharmacy in Nigeria called Med-Direct Africa has introduced its e-Pharmacy services in an effort to lower the cost of high-quality medications there while providing quick nationwide delivery. The website would make it possible for Nigerians from all socioeconomic backgrounds to purchase reliable medications online and have them delivered quickly to their preferred location….

Futuregrowth
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South African Venture Capital Firm, Futuregrowth Launches a Growth Development Fund

A South African venture capital firm called Futuregrowth has announced intentions to launch the Futuregrowth High Growth Development Equity Fund (HGDEF), which will concentrate on funding firms with a significant positive impact on development. Futuregrowth is a leading developmental investor and South Africa’s eighth-largest asset management organization with more than 50 fund products, more than…

Hyperclear, principa
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Hyperclear Buys South African Data Analytics and Software Platform Principa

For an unknown sum, South African data analytics, consulting, and software platform Principa is being purchased by Mauritius-based technology investment holding company Hyperclear from Apex Partners Holdings. In order to finance its acquisition plans, which are concentrated on businesses with Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) of up to R250 million, Hyperclear recently…

Elon Musk

Twitter to sue Elon Musk After Pulling out of his $44 Billion Deal

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and the richest man in the world, announced on Friday that he was canceling his $44 billion bid to acquire Twitter because the social media business had broken numerous merger agreement clauses. Bret Taylor, the chairman of Twitter, said on the microblogging site that the board intended to file…

Response Architects
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Response Architects partners with Alibaba under Exclusive Agreement to Launch Livestream Shopping across Africa.

LAGOS, 11 July 2022 — Response Architects, operators of ShopEX, has teamed up with Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, under an exclusive agreement to launch an African livestream shopping platform, Penda, in major markets including Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. Leveraging on the successful launch of ShopEX’s teleshopping model, Penda…

eCedi
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Ghana is set to Test its Digital Currency, the eCedi

The race to roll out e-cash on the continent has heated up with Ghana becoming the latest African nation to start evaluating the sustainability of its central bank-backed digital currency, the eCedi. After Nigeria introduced the eNaira in October 2021, only South Africa and Ghana remain in the pilot stage of the process. A contactless…

Afri-Plastics Challenge

Meet the 10 Finalists for the Afri-Plastics Challenge

The second Afri-Plastics Challenge, which promotes eco-friendly ways to lessen our reliance on plastic trash, has announced its ten finalists. Thanks to financing from the Government of Canada, the Afri-Plastics Challenge, run by London-based innovation specialists Challenge Works, is combating the epidemic of plastic pollution in Sub-Saharan Africa. Each finalist will receive GBP75,000 (US$90,000) to…

Kenya Power

Kenya Power to Roll out its Fixed Internet Services Come June 2023

Kenya Power, a government-owned provider of energy, announced in March that it would begin offering fixed internet. As of the right moment, it has declared that its service would debut in June 2023. Business Daily reports that over the past few months, the state-owned electricity business has conducted pilot tests by offering the services to…