How Kenya’s Paylend is helping MSMEs better record data and access loans Written by TOM JACKSON Kenyan fintech startup Paylend, which is helping MSMEs better record data and access loans, is conducting surveys in Tanzania and Nigeria ahead of beta tests in those markets. Founded in 2019 by Bendon Murgor and Eliutherius Juma, Paylend is digitising the…
More than 300 African tech startups have raised over $1.1bn so far in 2021 Written by TOM JACKSON More than 300 African tech startups have raised more than US$1.1 billion combined so far in 2021, the first time the sector has broken the US$1 billion mark – and with four-and-a-half months of the year still to…
Facebook’s undersea Internet cable is coming to South-East Nigeria and 3 other African countries The 2Africa project, championed by social media giant, Facebook, and seven other companies — China Mobile International, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, stc, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone, and WIOCC — is adding four new branches to its 37,000km undersea Internet cable. The new branches…
Moove raises $23M to create flexible options for drivers to own cars in Africa Africa is home to more than a billion people where a majority have limited or no access to vehicle financing. In fact, the continent has the lowest per capita vehicle ownership in the world. For instance, in Nigeria, owning a car…
American multinational financial services corporation, VISA Inc is currently undergoing expansion of its Fintech Fast-Track Programme in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) region in an effort to develop the future game changers in digital payment solutions. Already existing in Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific, the programme offers innovative Fintechs with…
Going by the recent report by GSMA, 128 tech hubs have kick-started their operations across Africa since 2016. Comparing with the recent reports of 442 active hubs just last year, this is massive progress. This progress is unrivaled and is a great signal as to why we can look forward to further growth. What…
TymeBank, BankZero and Discovery Bank being introduced will definitely rejuvenate the industry and ensure customers have better choices to make. It should also aid the existing banks to succumb to improving on their customer value propositions and customer experiences. Doing this, we should expect better focus from the popular banks on their several digital channels….
Distributed Antenna System(DAS) is a network of antennas spaced apart from each other but connected to a common source. A DAS contains all the elements of a cell site and can convey both wireless data and voice signals.
The African Innovation Foundation (AIF) in a joint collaborative effort with the Government of Botswana (GoB) represented by the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology and the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH) recently announced that the next Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) event will be held in Gaborone, Botswana in June 2016. The decision to host…
Hotels.ng launched its jobs portal a process that formalized its hiring process into some of the most unusual screening questions, and since then the online hotel booking portal has seen some interesting responses from applicants and online commentators alike. One defining thread of the hotels.ng hiring process is that it is unconventional,and you will need more than…
Money transfer service WorldRemit in a recent press statement to us,has raised $45m in financing from TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp and Silicon Valley Bank. Pioneering a mobile-first approach to remittances,WorldRemit will use the funds to support its rapidly growing transfer volumes.The WorldRemit app lets people send money straight from their smartphone, instead of having to…
Facebook is gradually deepening its presence in Nigeria and Africa through several initiatives and partnerships.In a recent press release,Facebook announced while celebrating the Friends Day that 16 million people in Nigeria visit Facebook every month with 100% of them coming on mobile. Each day, 7.2 million people visit Facebook with 7 million on mobile.During the past…
Travelstart, a leading Internet travel booking company in Africa, has announced an investment of US$40M led by Amadeus Capital Partners (London). With the new funding comes a strategic partnership with Nigeria’s largest mobile telecommunications provider MTN which has a subscriber base of more than 40 million locally. The funding will be used for Travelstart’s growth in…
Nigeria mobile payment platform, Paga has announced a partnership with technology company, Uber. The global company that has revolutionized the way people think about travel, which accepts payments for services via its app is looking to broaden its reach across Nigeria by making its services accessible to all commuters, irrespective of how they choose to…
2015 was an exciting year for broadband access across the world, and one which saw many of our predictions for the year play out — from increased debate around net neutrality and zero-rated services, to the spread of high-tech innovations to connect the unconnected. What access developments and trends will 2016 bring? Our team members…
Am sharing this interesting report on impact investing in West Africa Titled:THE LANDSCAPE FOR IMPACT INVESTING IN WEST AFRICA: Understanding the current status, trends, opportunities, and challenges compiled by Dalberg and the Global Impact Investing Network with support from UKaid.Great insight! See the full Report
Budding entrepreneurs across Africa can now apply to join the second annual Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) for start-up businesses based in Africa. The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme application portal opened January 1, 2016 and will accept applications until Midnight WAT on March 1, 2016. To apply, entrepreneurs must complete the online application form on…
MainOne , a leading telecoms and network services provider in West Africa, has announced that the high capacity Nigerian-Cameroun Submarine Cable System (NCSCS) connecting Lagos, Nigeria and Kribi, Cameroun has been completed and went live last month. The new submarine cable system will address increasing demand for reliable broadband connectivity in Cameroun, and is a key component…
Few days ago I wrote about the opportunities in Africa for African startups to leverage from in 2016.I also mentioned that 2015 saw social media companies like Twitter and Facebook expanding into Africa and that tells a lot about the opportunities in Africa.Netflix yesterday announced its expansion into 130 countries and most African countries including…
As 2016 gradually unfolds, first I would like to wish you a great success this year in all your endeavors and also take this time to share few insights around Technology Trends that will drive increased opportunity for African Start-ups in 2016.Certainly the year calls for more innovation in Africa. Innovation for any country or…
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on December 14,2015 announced the formation of the U.S.-Africa Business Center (USABC), launching efforts to lead the U.S. business community in a new period of unprecedented engagement with Africa’s regional economic communities, the established African private sector, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). “Since embarking on our initial Africa program…
Editor’s note:This article contributed by Alix Murphy of WorldRemit gives insight into opportunities around Mobile money,FinTech and financial inclusion for 2016 The Top 3 Predictions for FinTech, Mobile Money and Financial Inclusion in 2016 are: 1. Financial inclusion will mean big business. Making serious money and reaching the unbanked have not always gone hand-in-hand. We’re…
As the year 2015 gradually comes to an end we bring you the top 10 articles on our blog.These are the most read articles of the year and interestingly they also form the major opportunities for 2016 especially for Africa. -When Big Data, Cloud and Internet of Things Technologies can enable African Startups become Disruptive….
Nigerian Team of cyber security professionals “TeamNaija” has been crowned African champions at the just concluded Global Cyberlympics held in Washington DC, USA. The news about Nigeria is not only that of bribery,corruption,extremism.Nigeria is a great country with great minds making things happen all over the world, in Medicine,Education,Science and Tech,Sports you name them..am always…
Information Technology spending in Nigeria-the largest economy in Africa- will top $5.3 billion in 2016 as organizations increasingly embrace digital transformation initiatives in a bid to streamline their costs and bolster their flexibility. This is according to global technology research and consulting services firm International Data Corporation (IDC), which last week hosted an event at Victoria Crown…
African research and education network associations WACREN, the UbuntuNet Alliance and ASREN have partnered with their European counterpart GÉANT in a €26.6m EU co-funded project to provide dedicated high-speed internet all over Africa. This follows the success of the AfricaConnect project which contributed to the creation of a high-speed R&E network in Eastern and Southern…
West Africa Com is the annual forum for the region’s digital and ICT sector organised by Informa.The event will return to Dakar, Senegal on 8-9 June 2016 and now is the time to get involved. ”As the West Africa region is getting more connected and digital evolution is transforming the telecoms & media landscape, we…
Facebook is launching the Internet.org Innovation Challenge in Africa, with the aim of recognising developers and entrepreneurs who are using the internet to improve the standard of education and economic health in their communities. Developers across Africa are invited to enter the challenge. Facebook will present an Innovation Challenge Award of US $150,000 to the…
Image from FitBit A recent report from International Data Corporation (IDC ) has shown that China has quickly emerged as the fastest-growing wearables market, attracting companies eager to compete on price and feature sets .A quarter after Apple debuted as the number two wearables vendor worldwide, Chinese vendor Xiaomi finished the third quarter of 2015…
CradleCount App by Kesandu Nwokolo is an innovative Health care app for pregnant women in Africa,the app is set to reduce infant and maternal mortality. It’s no longer news that Africa is faced with great challenges, what is interesting is that many young Africans with technology and innovation, are beginning to provide the needed solution…