Hey there! Today’s TechCabal digest is brought to you by DIYlaw; get N2000 off your next company incorporation here with our coupon code – DIYLAWTC. Here’s everything interesting in African technology today.
Here’s what’s happening this Wednesday…
1. Au revoir Kamal – iHub’s CEO is leaving to head Safaricom’s yet-to-be-launched Innovation Hub. Kamal Bhattacharya, who was the Vice President of IBM Research Africa before joining iHub was appointed to run as interim CEO while iHub charted a new course for itself with iHub 2.0. Looks like he’s fulfilled the mandate and is now moving on to another venture. Who knew Safaricom even had an innovation hub? Apparently, it was announced late last year and is meant to be Safaricom’s local R&D arm. We observe. Link.
2. Num num – Global growth private equity firm, TA Associates has acquired a minority equity interest in Interswitch. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed and Helios Investment Partners still remains Interswitch’s majority shareholder. Link.
3. TEEP x GE – General Electric and the Tony Elumelu Foundation have just entered into an interesting partnership. It would see 25 TEF entrepreneurs participating in a dedicated 4-week manufacturing training program every year at GE’s Lagos Garage. There they will learn advanced fabrication and manufacturing skills in addition to business development. Link.
4. Safaricom x mSurvey = Consumer Wallet – It’s Safaricom’s 10th birthday and it’s making moves. It has just teamed up with data collection startup, mSurvey, to launch Consumer Wallet ― an online platform that uses mobile and SMS to map Africa’s cash-based economy. They are testing the product with potential clients and corporate partners with a beta version going live in Kenya this month. The overall goal is to unlock detailed customer data as mSurvey will use daily SMS and text messages to track the cash-based spending of a 1000 person sample drawn from Safaricom mobile subscribers. Link.
5. Mama Money – This South African money transfer company is expanding into Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania. They’re banking on their 5% transaction fee to make headway in the new markets. Link.
6. 51 days of no internet connectivity in Anglophone Cameroon #BringBackOurInternet.
You can now apply to Ventures Platform‘s (VP) accelerator program. It’s a 4-month program that’s designed to support startups at the MVP stage with mentorship, business re-engineering, workspace, living space, back office support, shared services and seed funding. Deadline’s March 11. Link.
Other interesting things…
+ BRCK has released two new products – the SupaBRCK which is essentially a wifi router and a data centre rolled into one solar-powered, all-weather box, and Moja, its content distribution network service. Link.
+ Remember the Bot for Messenger challenge? Somebody on twitter says he went through the T&Cs and discovered that the prize money can only be used for further development of the bot or the winners could be asked to return it. Always read T&Cs people. Link.
+ Free Code Camp is here again with the plug. Here are 370 Free Online Programming & Computer Science Courses You Can Start This Month. Link.
+ Nigeria’s forex woes continue to rage on and FF has some thoughts on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s new foolhardy policy in the dollar is your human right.
+ Somebody created a twitter account to alert Lagos drivers of Vehicle Inspection Officer sightings. I hope people are not checking while driving. Link.
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Hot topic(s) on TechCabal Radar
+ Join us on Thursday for our Radar AMA with Dave McClure, founder and Managing Partner of 500 Startups. March 9th at 8:30 pm (WAT). Go here to save the date in your calendar. Link.
+ Would you live in a 3D printed house? Link.
+ Banks created a personal expense tracker that I might actually use. Only problem as he said is the discipline to actually enter my expenses. Welp. Link.
Upcoming events…
Lagos: Cranium One’s fireside chat with Toro Orero is happening today. Link.
Ibadan: The Google Developer Group in Ibadan is hosting a meetup today. Link.
Cape Town: SABAN Angel Investor Training on the 9th of March. Link
Johannesburg: DevConf is happening on the 9th of March. Link
Lagos: Seedstars’ Growth Hacking series at Seedspace on the 11th of March. Link
Kampala: Google Cloud Next’17 Extended – Viewing Party at Outbox Hub on the 11th of March. Link
Singularity University’s Global Impact Challenge East Africa application deadline is on the 10th of March. Link.
Ventures Platform accelerator programme applications will close on the 11th. Link
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That’s all folks!
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