Hey there! 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).
We trust you had a good holiday? Welcome back!
1. Catch up on what you missed. Because you probably started partying early, here’s last Friday’s digest. Link
2. A fascinating visualisation of how the number of extremely poor people around the world has changed since 1990. African countries are in the yellow section. A lot of countries are shrinking, but Nigeria’s number is positively ballooning 🙁 Link
3. Day 91 – There’s still no internet in Anglophone Cameroon. #BringBackOurInternet
Chatclass NG is offering a social media management course where participants will learn how to develop and execute social media strategies that deliver results. The program will feature thorough masterclasses to help you launch and grow a successful social media career. School’s already in session for April but you can register for May classes which begin on the 7th. Register here.
These are interesting…
+ Of course brands were falling over themselves to send out Easter wishes. Of course, most of them were tacky. But this one from Verve actually clicked.
+ Mark Essien, the eternal iconoclast, wants to know if Yaba will still be Nigeria’s tech cluster, seeing as a bunch of high-profile startups have come and gone from the area. Interesting angle, not least because as far as I know, his company has signed a five-year lease on their office space.
+ Love it (I did) or hate it, the most commercially successful Nollywood production of 2016, The Wedding Party, is now available to watch on Netflix. Aunty Mo keeps bringing it.
+ When you consider that 98.5 percent of people that live in Japan are Japanese, this reaction is definitely not exaggerated — check out what happens when two black people run into each other in Japan.
+ If you happen to run into Kelechi Declan James though, just tell him that the FBI is looking for him for sending $5 million worth of scam emails.
+ Are you a tech and venture capital enthusiast in Nigeria interested in a remote part-time social media management role for Twitter. Please fill out this form (I’m told you’ll be paid in $$).
+ I’m a Yoruba boy, and I endorse this Yoruba boy smiley.
Very, very important studies have shown that Nigerians are not fans of public displays of affection. The data comes from a random sample of young Nigerians who might have been cajoled into responding with promises of donuts and fizzy drinks in the studio…sorry, lab. Checkout Zikoko on YouTube, new hilarious videos every week!
Upcoming events…
Lagos: Office Hours at Capital Square, April 18th. Link
Lagos: West Africa Global Impact Challenge Pitch Event, April 18th. Link
Abidjan: West Africa Demo Africa Innovation Tour, April 18th. Link
Lagos: F8, Facebook’s annual developer conference Meetup at CcHub, April 18th. Link
Durban: Digitize Africa Conference, April 18th to 20th. Link
Lagos: G3 Monthly Mobile Games Developer Meetup, April 19th. Link
Abuja: Hive Africa Global Leaders Programme, April 19th to 22nd. Link
Lagos: Cranium One’s fireside chat with Annie Eimiakhena, Director at Lohi Consulting, April 20th. Link
London: Africa Tech Summit, April 20th. Link
Lagos: Screening of Nigeria’s environmental crisis documentary, Nowhere to Run, at CcHub, April 21st. Link
Accra: Screening of an empowering film on female entrepreneurs at MEST, April 21st. Link
Want to see your event in here? Add your event
Upcoming deadlines…
African Entrepreneurship Award: Applications close on April 20th. Link
CAMSCORP Ventures Lab: Apply before April 21st. Link
Mastercard Start Path Global Programme: Applications close on April 23rd. Link
That’s all folks!
Today’s digest was mostly bants to get us all back into the groove, and Nigerian ones at that, so let us know if we missed anything or got anything wrong.
We absolutely love to read from you, thanks to the subscribers who hit reply to give us feedback or kudos. You make it worth the effort.
PS: Last week Thursday was Tola’s last day at TC. I remember when she wrote her first digest and watching her get to the point that our voices became nigh indistinguishable. I’m incredibly proud of her. Now she’s off on new adventures, and while Mobisola and I (and Osarumen on Thursdays) are quite capable of bringing it, we’re definitely looking for a new managing editor to make the TechCabal trinity complete again. If you are or know anyone who’s passionate about technology across Africa, enjoys startups, meeting new people, wants to own cool projects (events, web apps, merchandise, games…somebody stop us), wants to travel, loves free swag and being a tech celebrity, tell them to get at me – bankole@techcabal.com.
I’ll be back tomorrow morning.
