Ecobank Commercial Banking has launched the Ellevate Leadership Training Program in collaboration with the Global Business School Network (GBSN). The program is part of ‘Ellevate Equip,’ the brand name for all capability and training support initiatives for Ellevate by Ecobank, the bank’s gender financing program. Ellevate is a multi-award-winning solution for women-owned and managed businesses,…
On International Girls in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Day, the African Development Bank’s Coding for Employment program announced that half of its initial training seats will be reserved for women candidates. The Coding for Employment program, which provides African youth with the digital skills they need to participate effectively to the global digital economy,…
As the billionaire entrepreneur tries to expand Twitter Inc’s reach from “niche” to most Americans, Elon Musk said on Tuesday that casual users will always be free, but commercial and government users may be charged a small fee. “Twitter will always be free for casual users,” Musk wrote in a tweet, “but there may be…
Seven entrepreneurs have graduated from the newest Founder Institute Ghana program, which culminated in a virtual graduation ceremony with a pitch to mentors, investors, business leaders, and former graduates from around the world. The Founder Institute, which is based in Palo Alto, California, and was founded in 2009 by Adeo Ressi and Jonathan Greechan, connects…
Startups with creative solutions that assist tackle the ocean’s overexploitation, pollution, or climate change concerns are encouraged to apply for the OceanHub Africa accelerator program’s third cohort. OceanHub Africa, based in Cape Town, has supported 16 African ocean-focused startups in various sectors of the Blue Economy, including aquaculture, fisheries, shipbuilding, marine renewables and biotechnologies, coastal…
The Power Learn Project, an African impact organization, has launched its flagship program One Million Developers for Africa” Scholarship Program (#1MillionDevs4Africa) to teach and empower one million young people with ICT employable skills. Africa is grappling with a massive digital skills gap, which is stifling economic growth and development. According to a report by the…
The African Development Bank’s Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI) will receive $15 million from The Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) to develop and extend digital financial solutions to women-owned small and medium businesses in Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Mozambique, and Nigeria. This $54.8 million fourth round of funding will help over 69,000 women entrepreneurs in…
KenGen, a Kenyan power generation company, has finished drilling seven geothermal wells in Ethiopia, four of which are at the Aluto-Langano site and three at Tule Moye. According to Business Daily, KenGen won a Sh7.6 billion ($65.6 million) joint contract with Kerui Petroleum Equipment Company and Shandong Kerui Oilfield Service Group in February 2019 to…
Elizabeth Rogo, President (East Africa), African Energy Chamber, has been appointed to the National Oil Corporation of Kenya’s board of directors. Elizabeth is a professional engineer with more than 21 years of experience in the energy industry. She is expected to lead the National Oil Corporation of Kenya’s efforts to improve oil and gas exploration,…
The nine startups chosen for the Fintech Incubation Programme have been announced by Nigeria’s technology innovation center Co-creation Hub (CcHUB), in collaboration with Google, the Ministry of ICT and Innovation Rwanda, and the Mojaloop Foundation. The Fintech Innovation Project, which includes the Fintech Incubation Program and other development initiatives, is part of Rwanda’s ongoing efforts…
Insecta Studios, a creative company based in Nigeria that uses storytelling and design to connect brands and people, has launched Raknida, a platform aimed at providing high-quality and affordable wall arts that inspire people, promote overall well-being, support the economic advancement of young African artists, and fuse art and tech experiences that open up unique…
The Central African Republic, a landlocked country roughly in the middle of Africa, has become the first African government to recognize Bitcoin as legal cash. The Central African Republic’s Ministry of Finance and Budget, as well as the Ministry of Digital Economy, Postal Services, and Telecommunications, have presented a joint document that recognizes Bitcoin as…
Unicorn Group, an investment firm, has launched its fourth entrepreneur incubation program, which is open to startups from a variety of countries for the first time. Unicorn Group is a pan-African investment firm that seeks out innovative ideas, startups, and early-stage companies in Africa’s technology and technology-enabled sectors that have the potential to become unicorns….
Trace and the Mastercard Foundation have collaborated to launch Trace Academia, a free, interactive, mobile-based learning application designed to help 26 million young Africans gain market-relevant skills. The Trace Academia App is available on Android and iOS and has been tested successfully in four African countries. Users can access courses in either English or French,…
The Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) prize competition has announced a new Community Lead and ScaleUp Program to provide ABH applicants and finalists with more enhanced mentoring and networking opportunities. Now in its fourth year, applications for the ABH grant are now open in both French and English, and the competition has already attracted talented entrepreneurs…
A month after its first African landing in Togo, Google’s Equiano mega subsea cable has arrived in Lagos, Nigeria. The cable system’s second African landing will be in the Lekki Peninsula area of Lagos. The announcement was made in a tweet today, April 21, 2022, and comes just in time for the system’s highly anticipated…
Time is the one commodity we don’t have a lot of in our fast-paced lives. And, as the pandemic has demonstrated, when we do have free time, we prefer to spend it with family and friends rather than on time-consuming and often onerous tasks such as banking, saving, or filling out forms. So, here are…
African startups raised approximately $5 billion in 2021, nearly tripling the amount raised in 2020. While the ecosystem has received more funding, technical talent has not grown at the same rate. According to the Africa Developer Ecosystem Report, the number of professional software developers in Africa will increase by 3.8 percent to 716,000 engineers by…
Injini, a Cape Town-based ed-tech non-profit, is launching a think tank to provide market research to entrepreneurs in the space and to advocate for educational reform. According to Injini, which was co-founded by the Cape Innovation & Technology Initiative (CiTi) and has run a number of accelerator programs for ed-tech startups in Africa, the Injini…
Mrs. Ujama Akpata and Mrs. Kikelomo Fola-Ogunniya, founders of Jand2Gidi, held a media conference on Wednesday, April 13th. Ms. Nancy Ogbue, Event Host MC, moderated the event and introduced Jand2Gidi, praising them for their consistency over the years. She also mentioned that with Jand2Gidi, the usual frustrations associated with sending deliveries are becoming a thing…
Google has announced the opening of its first product development center in Africa, which will be located in Nairobi. The new product development center will assist in the development of transformative products and services for people in Africa and around the world, and it will hire visionary engineers, product managers, UX designers, and researchers to…
Leatherback, a cross-border payments network based in the United Kingdom, has received a $10 million Pre-Seed fundraising round from Zedcrest Capital, a major pan-African principal investment group. The funding will allow the growing Fintech company to focus on critical activities, including hiring strategic roles, elevation in its marketing and branding strategy, and traction and visibility…
Transfy, a Nigerian fintech startup, has seen strong early adoption of its payment infrastructure, processing $15 million in its first year, and is planning continental expansion. Transfy, based in Lagos, will launch a blockchain-powered financial services platform in April 2021, making it simple for individuals and businesses across Africa to send and receive money seamlessly,…
Kudi, an African payment network, has rebranded as Nomba. This was announced in a press release as part of the company’s transition from a single payment platform to an omnichannel payment platform. Payment collections, trade finance, company reporting, and multiple location administration are among the new business capabilities produced by the new omni-channel payment platform,…
OXFORD, U.K. – April 14, 2022 – Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, todayunveiled advancements to Sophos Cloud Workload Protection, including new Linux host and container security capabilities. These enhancements accelerate the detection and response of in-progress attacks and security incidents within Linux operating systems, improve security operations and bolster application performance. According to new…
Founded in January 2020 by Dady Maël and Kader Saka, PAL creates its own payment infrastructure for cash-in and cash-out to mobile wallets, without the need for a third-party technology component integration. It offers this service as an open API with a web interface that can be used for inbound remittance, payment, loans, and many financial…
The last e-Track Programme concluded earlier this month with seven of the graduating startups pitching their businesses to an audience at a hybrid event hosted on the GSB campus, which was run by UCT GSB Solution Space – a specialized centre of the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business focused on high-impact early…
Elloe is a first-of-its-kind AI-powered conversational commerce platform that allows SMEs to buy and sell products online across any messaging platform. It was founded by Owen Sakawa. Mad Ventures, located in the Philippines, led the US$1 million pre-seed fundraising round, which would help Elloe expand across Kenya and other emerging economies. “The opportunity to engage…
WhatsApp has finally caught up to the competition and increased the file limit. Large files of up to 2GB can now be shared. WhatsApp also intends to expand the range of emoji message reactions from Thanks to Sad, Surprised, Like, Laugh, and Love to cover all emojis and skin tones. WhatsApp groups are also getting…
According to filings filed with the SEC, Elon Musk, who recently purchased a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter, has made an offer to buy the firm altogether for $54.20 per share in cash in a hostile takeover worth around $43 billion. Musk stated in the filing that if his offer is rejected, he will most…