Here’s everything interesting in African technology today. Not subscribed? Click here to get this goodness in your mailbox every day at 7am (GMT + 1).
Good morning.
1. The newly-appointed seven-member board of Etisalat Nigeria has been tasked to decide the fate of the telco in the next six months, during which options of an outright sale or merger with another operator will be considered. Link
2. South Africa’s GetSmarter has been acquired by NASDAQ listed 2U Inc for $103m in an all-cash transaction, and the company will remain as an independent subsidiary of the American digital education company. Link
+ Like 2U, GetSmarter offers online short courses in partnership with some renowned higher institutions. One interesting thing about the company is the fact that it has a course completion rate of 88%, which is better than the typical MOOC completion rate of <13% across the world.
+ And while we are on the topic of education, here’s a throwback article on why MOOCs have low completion rates. (Hint: a lack of incentive in the form of a clear path from completion to getting a paying job).
3. Lagos-based dot Learn was announced as the first runner-up in the Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge a few days ago. The edtech startup won $75,000 in funding. They are now aiming to reach 100,000 end users across sub-Saharan Africa.
+ For some context, dot Learn was founded last year by Tunde Alawode and Sam Bhattacharyya – both MIT graduates. The team has been developing an interesting product for emerging markets (using 10,000x video compression technology) – a video-based learning platform that lets students take online courses with low bandwidth and for less than the cost of sending an SMS.
4. Applications for Andela Uganda’s third cohort of developers are open – with a deadline of July 17. Link
The open manifesto for the Yaba tech cluster is being drafted, and you can start contributing here.
Other things
+ Jason Njoku’s Medium post: Are Nigerian banks useless? Link
+ Women accuse Tesla of sexual harassment. Link
+ Bitcoin is already playing a key role in the unsteady financial systems of some developing markets. Link
A message from LSETF
If you are involved in the Lagos tech ecosystem, the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund needs your input to guide its plans to support tech entrepreneurs. You can help out by visiting this page to take a survey
Upcoming events
Lagos: TechPlus 2017, July 6th. Link
Dar es Salaam: Mobile 360 Africa, July 11th. Link
Lagos: Datalytics Meetup, July 13th. Link
Want to see your event in here? Add your event
That’s all for now.
Have a great day – and if you’re feeling downbeat, (listen to FMLYBND’s Come Alive and) remember that today’s d-1, with d being Friday. Sayonara!
