Mastercard has reaffirmed its commitment to the UAE and the region by expanding its regional footprint and announcing a series of leadership changes designed to advance the company’s presence and operations while building on its 35-year growth and innovation journey. Mastercard has been at the forefront of digital transformation and payment technology innovation during this…
Flat6Labs, a Cairo-based accelerator program that provides companies with access to funding, mentorship, and other benefits, has introduced nine startups at its most recent demo day. The Flat6Labs Cairo programme, which was launched in 2011 as the first office of the Flat6Labs MENA regional startup accelerator, provides startups with cash funding of up to EGP1.5…
Laurin Nabuko Hainy is the co-founder and CEO of FairMoney MFB, Nigeria’s largest digital bank. FairMoney recently announced at its inaugural Investors’ Conference in Lagos that they have disbursed over N71 billion in loans so far in 2021, more than doubling the amount in 2020, in order to drive financial inclusion in Nigeria. Laurin discusses…
President Hakainde Hichilema declared a “new dawn” for Zambia in his inauguration speech on August 24, 2021. It is critical that this transformation extend to the realm of the internet. According to recent Freedom House and Paradigm Initiative research, digital rights in Zambia suffered under former President Edgar Lungu. Zambians witnessed this during the August…
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…
The winners of the third edition of the African App Launchpad Cup, aimed at supporting African tech startups in the field of digital applications and game development, have been announced by Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA). ITIDA, the executive arm of Egypt’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT), founded to spearhead the…
Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey stepped down earlier this week. He named CTO Parag Agrawal as the company’s new CEO, effective immediately. According to an internal email obtained by The Washington Post, Agrawal, who joined Twitter as an engineer in 2011, has already announced a major reorganization of the company. Twitter also confirmed the…
In September 2021, EMURGO announced the establishment of a $100 million Cardano investment vehicle comprised of two separate entities, EMURGO Africa and EMURGO Ventures, to invest in early startup and growth stage companies focused on developing socially impactful Cardano-powered solutions. The investment thesis of EMURGO Africa is to support the development of three hundred regional…
Apple has announced the top apps and games that have helped consumers tap into their passions, explore creative outlets, connect with new people and experiences, and simply have fun for the 2021 App Store Award winners. The winners this year are global developers whose apps and games were chosen by Apple’s worldwide App Store editorial…
Norrsken Foundation, a Swedish coworking space and investment fund, announced the opening of its first entrepreneurship hub outside of Scandinavia in Rwanda in 2019. The center, which is located in Kigali, has finally opened to the region, though it is being done in two stages. The first event, held yesterday, will host 250 entrepreneurs. The…
Microsoft has adopted a new aggressive strategy to discourage users from downloading Google’s Chrome Web browser. When users try to download Chrome using Microsoft Edge, the Redmond-based company now displays prompts that discourage them from downloading and installing Google’s Web browser. The prompts are available for both Windows 10 and Windows 11, though only a…
Timnit Gebru, one of the leaders of Google’s ethics in AI team and a leading expert in the field, was fired almost exactly one year ago after sending a concerned email to her team. She has now established her own research institute, DAIR, focusing on the topics she felt were being neglected at Google. According…
The second edition of Africa Creator Week has begun on YouTube. As part of the #YouTubeBlack Voices program, the program seeks to showcase and support content creators from across the continent, as well as to extend YouTube’s commitment to nurturing black creators and artists. YouTube Africa Creator Week 2021 takes place from November 29 to…
Being a part of the tech industry has provided many women with successful and rewarding careers. This is the story of Ikiokaye Idowu, a Lagos State University Biochemistry graduate who began her career in banking but is now an Operations Manager with Tek Experts, a company that provides deep technical support and professional services to…
YouTube Music reaffirmed its commitment to supporting African creative voices today by providing financial grants, capacity development training, and advisory services to two organizations that nurture and export African creative talent. Briteswan and iManage Africa Entertainment Limited will receive funding to help them scale up their initiatives to develop African music creatives. This change is…
Google was fined $40,155 on Monday for failing to delete content deemed illegal by a Moscow court, as part of a larger dispute between Russia and the Alphabet-owned US tech giant. In October, Russia threatened to fine Google a percentage of its annual Russian turnover for repeatedly failing to remove banned content from its search…
“This was my decision,” Dorsey explained to his coworkers in a note. Jack Dorsey Resigns as Twitter CEOJack Dorsey is stepping down as Twitter CEO. On Monday, the Big Tech entrepreneur tweeted an email announcing his departure from the company. The message stated: “After almost 16 years of having a role at our company… from…
Authorities in Beijing announced on Saturday that Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi will develop a plant in Beijing capable of producing 300,000 vehicles per year for its electric vehicle segment. The plant will be erected in two stages, and Xiaomi will also establish its vehicle unit’s headquarters, sales, and research offices in the Beijing Economic and…
African Tech Vision, an entrepreneurial and mentorship initiative to encourage the growth of female-founded firms, is now accepting applications. The six-week African Tech Vision program will begin in January and will be led by an experienced volunteer team from around the world. The program was designed to be truly founder-centric, with founder growth defining its…
Burkina Faso’s government has prolonged the countrywide ban on mobile internet access for another 96 hours. This comes just days before opposition protests are scheduled. According to a statement issued by the administration of President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, the extension was granted under a legal clause linked to national defense and public safety. Authorities…
Aside from money, African female entrepreneurs want access to high-impact mentors who are eager to share their network and teach what they know. Eloho Omame and Odunayo Eweniyi unveiled their female-focused angel investment fund a few weeks into January this year. The angel fund, appropriately dubbed FirstCheck Africa, is on a mission to “advance equity,…
Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, South Africa’s Minister of Communications, says the government is considering plans to ensure that all South Africans have access to connectivity at home by 2024. Speaking at the annual Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC), Minister Ntshavheni stated that the European Union has committed to delivering 1 terabyte to the home…
IBM has announced a new massive commitment and global plan to provide new skills needed for tomorrow’s jobs to 30 million people of all ages by 2030. To accomplish this goal, IBM has outlined a clear roadmap that includes over 170 new academic and industry partnerships. The initiative will make use of IBM’s existing programs…
Startupbootcamp AfriTech and Telecel Group have opened applications for the second edition of the Africa Startup Initiative Programme (ASIP), which provides funding and support to selected companies. Startupbootcamp AfriTech was founded in 2017 as the first pan-African startup accelerator backed by multiple corporations. In March, Disrupt Africa announced a partnership with telecoms firm Telecel Group…
According to data from Kenya’s bureau of statistics, informal businesses power the country’s economy, accounting for 33.8 percent of GDP and 83.4 percent of total employment outside of small-scale agriculture. These businesses contribute significantly to the country’s economy, but they are underserved by traditional banking institutions, making it difficult for them to obtain the financing…
As Nigeria joins the rest of the world in commemorating the 2021 Universal Children’s Day, many students returned home with brand new laptops and desk computers, courtesy of the National Information Technology Development Agency NITDA’s efforts to improve and standardize a SMART digital education. “The gesture to Nigerian students was borne out of the Agency’s…
Tek Experts, a leading technology support service company, has reached a milestone of over 1,800 employees in Nigeria, making it the largest market of its operations globally. This milestone was announced during a media visit to the company as part of efforts to communicate the essence of the industry’s relatively new niche of tech support….
A recent survey conducted at the request of Kaspersky by Toluna research agency observed the technical challenges families faced during mandatory remote learning following lockdown measures that were implemented globally at the onset and continued in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than half of Nigerian families (58 percent) with two or more children…
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that the country’s digital currency will be implemented in four stages, culminating in the eNaira’s interoperability with those of other central banks. Mrs Rakiya Mohammed, Director of the CBN’s Information Technology Department, stated this at the licensed payment service providers’ engagement session in Lagos on Monday, as…
Kenyan startups have been invited to apply for grants of up to EUR100,000 (US$113,000) from the develoPPP Ventures programme’s second cohort. DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH – launched the develoPPP Ventures program earlier this year on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development. It aims to empower startups by…