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.
It’s Wednesday…
1. Kenya really gets this mobile payment business – From 12 pm this Thursday, Kenyans will be able to buy government treasury bonds on their mobile phones. This will be made possible via M-Akiba, a retail bond platform that allows anyone trade in government securities right from their mobile device. M-Akiba is the culmination of two years of planning and is the world’s first mobile-only government bond allowing users with a minimum of KES 3,000 (that’s about $30) to begin trading in treasury bonds and receiving interest in their mobile money wallets. Imagine all the low-income earners that can now save and be financially included because of this. That’s it guys, I’m moving to Kenya.
+ Read this primer on all you need to know about M-Akiba.
2. Urumuri Initiative – Meanwhile over in Rwanda, the Bank of Kigali is celebrating its 50th anniversary by partnering with Rwandan accelerator, Indomoko, to launch the Urumuri Initiative. It will be a 7-month incubation programme for tech-enabled startups. Early stage businesses and SMEs with a social or environmental impact are welcome to apply. 50 select startups will receive business support services and 3 – 8 of the best businesses will receive funding from a $72,000 pool.
3. Egypt’s on-demand taxi app, Ousta, has just launched a delivery service. They’re currently crowdsourcing “runners” but customers can now request a professional to run their errands, pay bills or deliver shipments. Link.
4. And in Nigeria, FueledUp’s CEO, Subomi Owo-Odusi has launched a new venture. It’s called Resolve.ng and is poised to simplify customer service for businesses and consumers in Nigeria. Link.
5. Over in Cameroon, it’s been 64 Days – Papa Biya has already beat the record for the longest internet shutdown this decade but he’s obviously thinking why stop there? Please ask him to #BringBackOurInternet.
Other things you should know…
+ Adia Sowho wrote this last June and it’s still so relevant today. If you read nothing else today, please read this piece on how partnerships between telcos and startups can flourish.
+ Ventures Platform is doing awesome work and Kola Aina just shared some insight into what the next few months will bring. P.S they’re recruiting 🙂
+ Another contender for tweet of the week is Tayo Oviosu’s tweet on Paga vs GTBank’s transaction charges.
+ In more YC demo day news, TechCrunch has picked its top 7 startups and wifi.com.ng is one of them. Link.
+ This is the detailed inside story of Kenya and South Africa’s battle to control the .africa domain.
+ Mark your calendars because the Africa Tech Summit is happening in London next month. Link.
+ Taxify now lets you order a ride through Siri. Link.
+ Oxford University’s lecture slides for its Deep Natural Language Processing course is on Github. I love the internet.
+ Josh Elman has some advice for product teams, “Build something that users understand and enjoy.”
This April, ChatClass NG is offering a 2-month program designed to develop and support social media managers. The program will feature a thorough masterclass, real-life assessments and internships. Apply here if you’re interested. Deadline’s April 1st.
Hot topics on Radar
+ For our next AMA this Thursday, we will be hosting the Web Foundation’s Digital Equality Advocacy Manager, Nanjira Sambuli. You already know it’s about to be lit. Link.
+ Are there any coworking spaces in Port Harcourt? Link.
Upcoming events…
Lagos: Geeks On a Plane Africa tour, March 20 – March 23. Link.
Accra: British Council Enterprise Africa Summit, March 22 – March 24. Link.
Dublin: Women in Tech Africa Ireland chapter meetup, March 22. Link.
Lagos: Cashless Africa Conference, March 22 – 23. Link.
Accra: Geeks On a Plane Africa tour, March 23 – March 25. Link.
Lagos: Innovention Series 2017, March 23. Link.
Lusaka: Demo Africa Innovation Tour, March 23. Link.
Stellenbosch: Launchlab water and waste management challenge workshop, March 23. Link.
Lagos: ReCode Nigeria hackathon, March 24. Link.
Lagos: DevOps with Chuka, Mach 24 – March 25. Link.
Lagos: She Codes Africa, March 25. Link.
Kaduna: Facebook bot party at CoLab, March 25. Link.
Lagos: Startup Grind with Chris Kwekowe, March 25. Link.
Osogbo: Django Girls free programming workshop for women, March 25. Link.
Upcoming deadlines
WAMAS 2017: You only have until Friday, March 24th, to nominate your favourite mobile innovators in the 10 categories of this year’s West Africa Mobile Awards. Link.
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That’s all folks!
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