About 20 million Nigerians are at risk of losing their telecommunication lines as the Federal Government’s October 31st deadline for the linkage of the National Identity Number, NIN, and the Subscriber Identity Module, SIM linkage draws closer. This is even as the FG, through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Ministry of Communications and…
Elon Musk may soon become the first person with a net worth of $300 billion. The Tesla CEO and world’s richest man added more than $36 billion to his fortune on Monday after the automaker’s shares spiked 12.7% following the announcement that Hertz is ordering 100,000 vehicles to build out its electric vehicle rental fleet by the…
Social Media platform, Facebook and Comic Republic have announced the launch of #NoFalseNewsZone online comic book, an educational comic series designed to help people think critically about the messages they see and read online. The series helps readers to identify false news and what they can do to help minimise its spread. The online comic…
Less than 48 hours after its official launch by President Muhammadu Buhari, the individual wallet for eNaira has recorded more than 100,000 thousand downloads on Google Playstore alone. Apple’s App Store does not readily show an estimate of downloads. The Nigerian official Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) was initially scheduled for launch on October 1…
Local media in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum are reporting that internet services across the region have been interrupted, with many outright stating that the internet is down. This is after reports that Sudan’s military seized power during a coup on Monday, arresting members of a transitional pro-democracy government that itself overthrew the long-ruling autocrat…
Spanning 54 countries, Africa is a powerhouse in the world of natural resources and innovation. Resources like diamonds, sugar, gold, uranium, silver, oil, and petroleum famously make Africa and investments in Africa very lucrative. Oil being an invaluable commodity, its production puts countries like Nigeria and Egypt at the top in terms of Gross Domestic…
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…
Co-Creation Hub (CcHub), the Lagos-based hub, accelerator and investor that has been expanding across Africa of late, has launched its new Seedr programme, the first edition of which will take place in Namibia. CcHub has been on an expansion charge in the last couple of years , and now claims to be the “largest innovation…
South African online student accommodation marketplace DigsConnect has entered into an agreement with the world’s largest student accommodation site, Student.com, enabling the startup to expand its presence to approximately 30 new countries and 400 new cities in the next six months. Launched in 2018, the DigsConnect platform allows landlords, estate agents and property managers to post their property…
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…
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…
Google has today launched the Global Initiative for Excellence in Journalism Education to enhance journalists’ training in Africa. The announcement was made during the inaugural Google News Initiative (GNI) for Africa virtual event that started on Monday 25 October 2021 and will end on Friday 29th October 2021. The initiative to support journalism training will…
Substantial increases in startup activity and a massive inflow of capital has seen the Egyptian startup ecosystem establish itself as one of Africa’s “big four” within a relatively short period of time, with the sector’s development aided by proactive government and a strong local startup support system. That is according to the newly-released Egyptian Startup Ecosystem…
The World World Bank has blacklisted 18 Nigerian individuals and firms for engaging in corrupt practices, fraud and collusive practices in its 2021 fiscal year 2021, a new report has revealed. A list of debarred individuals and firms was presented in a new annual report titled World Bank Group Sanctions System FY21. The debarments were made by…
MTN Group has been featured on Forbes’ World’s Best Employers List 2021 where it reached the rank of 132, effectively making it the top African employer in the world, according to Forbes. It is also one of the only African companies featured on the list that is topped by South Korean Samsung Electronics, followed by…
Vodacom has announced that it is planning to run another edition of the #CodeLikeAGirl programme before the end of this year as it attempts to cater for the huge demand of girls and young women who subscribed for the first iteration of the programme. “The Vodacom #CodeLikeAGirl initiative is growing in popularity and is starting…
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has alerted millions of Nigerian telecom consumers of the existence of new, high-risk and extremely-damaging, Malware called Flubot. A malware is a generic word used to describe a virus or software, designed specially to “disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorised access to a computer system.” Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, director, Public Affairs…
Nigerian tech talent developing and outsourcing company, TalentQL has launched a digital tech training institution, AltSchool. Touted to be Africa’s first certificate-awarding institution for developers and other tech talents, the institution went live today and is currently open to applicants. According to TalentQL Co-founder and CEO, Adewale Yusuf, Nigeria has a population of more than 200…
If any country could be absolved of responsibility for the climate change crisis, it’s The Gambia. The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa, wedged within the borders of Senegal along the mouth of the Gambia river with a population of 2.4 million. Its carbon footprint is among the world’s smallest, and comes mostly from agriculture and…
Delphine Traoré, member of the Board of Management of Allianz Africa and regional chief operations officer (COO), will succeed Coenraad Vrolijk and assume the role of Allianz Africa Regional Chief Executive Officer (CEO), in addition to her current responsibilities. Coenraad will leave Allianz Africa to pursue new opportunities outside of the Allianz group. These changes will become…
Google has held discussions to invest over $50 million in Indian social commerce startup Meesho, which recently secured $570 million in a financing round, according to a source familiar with the matter. The Android-maker, which has backed over half a dozen startups in India, has yet to make the investment in Meesho, according to another person…
Africa is being hit hard by climate change but has huge potential to minimise the impact and in some instances even triple a return on investment by embracing climate change adaptation, according to a report by the World Bank. Three African countries could more than triple returns on investments in climate-smart infrastructure and create thousands of…
Public fascination with innovation, entrepreneurship and startups in Africa seems to have reached an all-time high, thanks to leading Pan African network organizations like AfriLabs that support the ecosystem. AfriLabs is a Network Organisation of over 300 technology innovation hubs spread across 49 African countries. As the organization marks its 10th anniversary, TechEconomy.ng looks at the CV of Anna…
During a company livestream, Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, with MTN SA CEO, Godfrey Motsa today announced the launch of the MTN Online School, a free online portal that provides a comprehensive digital curriculum for grades R-12 and additional features like video lessons, assessments and extra-tuition lessons for Grade 10 to 12 learners. The solution…
MTN Eswatini and other mobile network operators have reportedly been ordered by the country’s government to suspend access to Facebook and its messenger app “until further notice.” This comes as Africa’s last absolute monarchy has been rocked by another week long surge of pro-democracy protests. Earlier this year in July, protest action began in the Southern African…
Facebook is planning to rebrand itself with a new name next week to reflect its focus on building the metaverse, the Verge reported on Tuesday, citing a source with direct knowledge of the matter. Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg plans to talk about the name change at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28, but it…
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has strongly warned telecoms consumers to ensure they do not allow their National Identification Number (NIN) to be linked to another person’s Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards, no matter how close the person is to them. The Commission gave the warning during its third run Telecom Consumer Town Hall on Radio (TCTHR)…
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director general of the National Information Technology Agency (NITDA) has inaugurated a five-day capacity training programme for members of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA) in Lagos, Nigeria, TechEconomy.ng can report. The DG said the capacity training programme aims to upskill the members of NITRA – an umbrella body for journalists reporting information…
Amid rumours that it lost a colossal N2 billion of investor funds to a fraudulent investment scheme, Piggyvest, an online saving and investment platform has announced to its users that their funds are ‘safe and secure’. The rumours started after an Instagram user @_trapselena_ alleged that Piggyvest and some other top organizations in Nigeria invested in an…
Nigerians without access to internet-enabled phones would also be able to utilize the eNaira currency. This was revealed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in a document titled “Design paper for the eNaira”. The CBN, through this document, stated that the eNaira solution will take into consideration all Nigerians, irrespective of the device type they…