In January 2020, I spoke to Charles, a Nigerian journalist studying in Uganda, and one of the interesting points of our conversation was the “Over the top tax.” The tax, introduced in 2018, means Ugandans pay a daily fee of 200 Shillings to use social media apps. The new bill took many people by surprise. […]
Paystack, a fintech company that powers growth and payments for businesses in Africa, today announced its official launch in South Africa after a six-month pilot. The launch marks Paystack’s expansion into its third market, following Nigeria (where it claims it powers over 50% of all online payments), and Ghana. This announcement is coming seven months […]
The BackEnd explores how tech products are built in Africa, highlighting uniqueness, user behaviour assumptions, pilots, pivots and challenges during the product cycle. A new edition every other Thursday. — Before becoming Director of Operations at ORide in 2019, Ridwan Olalere had been around Nigeria’s startup scene for a few years, taking note of big […]
It is common knowledge now that the red meat value chain in Nigeria needs total over-hauling. From animal production, transportation, processing and storage, to distribution and consumption. Slaughtering unfit livestock and/or processing in an unhygienic environment is a serious health hazard that leads to the transmission of animal to human diseases. (what is known in […]
There might be a lot of reasons hindering business owners from meeting their customers’ every need. However, payment solutions should not be one of them. CapitalSage – a fin-tech company – came up with a platform that was created to make life easy for business owners. Every business needs a payment solution; a platform where […]
Barely three years ago, Nigeria’s challenger bank, Sterling Bank Plc, was named Africa’s most agile company by the World Agility Forum. It nicked the highly coveted laurel for its exemplary application of agile processes and game-changing strides that is redefining financial technology in the country. In its portfolio are solutions that transformed, digitized, simplified, and […]
Africa’s first social and video commerce platform, Rabawa, announced today that it has raised $163,000 from Aptive Capital, a VC firm in USA that is focused on supporting early stage startups. RABAWA’s social and video commerce solution offer resellers the opportunity to leverage social media for curating, promoting, and selling products from Manufacturers / Distributors […]
As part of its tradition to drive impactful conversations that lead to the development of Africa, the University of Oxford Africa Society is hosting its 2021 Oxford Africa Conference from May 28-30th, 2021. This year’s conference will feature prominent and world-class speakers from across political, social, economic, environmental, health, and technology spectrums, including Dr Toyin […]
Is there a ride-hailing service in Gabon? Yes, Gozem just launched there this week. Founded in 2018 by Emeka Ajene and Raphael Dana, Gozem operates an app that offers transportation, logistics, e-commerce and financial services in primarily-francophone African countries. Gozem is aiming to be the super app for Africa and is modelled after the success […]
Cordel Robbin-Coker, Lucy Hoffman, and Tinotenda Mundangepfupfu started Carry1st in 2018 to publish mobile games and interactive content for Africans. One of their games, Carry1st Trivia, got a lot of buzz in 2020 with about one and a half million downloads. In the three years since its launch, Carry1st has also become a medium for […]
Lami, a Kenyan insurtech company democratizing insurance products and services for low-income Kenyans, has raised $1.8 million in seed funding. The funding round was led by Accion Venture Lab. Founded by Jihan Abass in 2018, Lami is a digital insurance platform that enables partner businesses – including banks, tech companies, and other entities to easily […]
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The Federal Government of Nigeria has extended the May 9 deadline for Nigerian mobile subscribers to link their National Identity Numbers (NINs) to their SIM cards. This announcement marks the fourth time the government has adjusted the NIN registration deadline since the first call on December 30, 2020. The country’s Minister of Communications and Digital […]
From a fresh and relatable perspective, the Ask an Investor series focuses on conversations with investors in Africa – investment banks, sovereign wealth funds, private equities, venture capitalists and every other class of investors, explaining why and how these investments happen by talking to the people who make them happen. Yele Bademosi didn’t start out in the […]
The Nigerian Federal Government recently announced a partnership with tech giant Microsoft to accelerate the country’s digital economy. This announcement follows a discussion that took place in January between Nigeria’s vice-president, Yemi Osinbajo and Microsoft’s Corporation President, Brad Smith. The collaboration is in line with Nigeria’s economic sustainable plan to grow the economy. It will […]
It’s a good time to be raising money for venture capital investment in Egypt, especially if it is a first-time fund. GIZ Egypt has launched a €100 million ($120 million) funding programme called “VC University”. The initiative is a collaboration between GIZ, Germany’s international development agency, and the Egyptian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development […]
MTN has expanded its 4G coverage to about 61.8% of the population but what’s more interesting is that in Q1, it added 1.2 million smartphones to its network. 47.5% of the company’s customers now use smartphones.
It takes a great team to build an equally great product. Centre Stage exists to tell the behind-the-scenes stories of how products and companies are built in Africa. A new Centre Stage story drops every Monday at 3 PM. As workplaces continue to re-open, many organizations are adopting the hybrid work model – a new […]
