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1. Another one – Stanbic IBTC announced last night that its instant account opening service is now in open beta. This is coming after Wema’s ALAT recently went into beta, and has been drawing positive reactions from first-time users, despite the occasional bug. Going by a basic understanding of cause and effect in competitive spaces, one thing seems inevitable from here on out: the mad rush by every other bank’s Product Head to rally a competent team and get its own ‘ALAT’ out, at which point it becomes less of a race for innovation and more of a tightly contested catch-up battle.
+ Bankole’s mini Twitter rant about how Nigerian banks have officially commenced a fintech arms race. Link
2. The Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology and Paris&Co have announced a partnership – under a Memorandum of Understanding – in the presence of the Ambassador of France to Ghana to boost the growth and circulation of startups between the two nations and their respective continents at large.
3. South Africa’s music retail scene is a reflection of the state of media and retail, at one point or the other, in almost every other part of the modern world. Physical sales are still ahead of digital sales, but they’ve been rapidly declining over the years, with the growing adoption of streaming services and downloads. According to IFPI’s data, physical revenues made up 52% of the South African market in 2015, while digital revenues made up 28%. In 2016, physical media revenues dropped to 39%, while digital climbed up to 33%.
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Ooh, other interesting things…
+ The Western Cape High Court has labelled the South African nuclear deal with Russia unlawful. The court ruled that Jacob Zuma should have sought parliamentary approval before making any moves. Link
+ Mark Essien has expressed his desire to hold regular tech meetups in Yaba. They will mostly be without a designated speaker, and focus on the startup scene. The first one is scheduled to hold tomorrow at the Switch Express office by 5pm. Link
+ Bankole says he would totally watch a 24-hour Twitter TV station after news broke that Twitter plans to start broadcasting live video 24 hours a day. Link
+ REACH – an app that helps individuals and people in groups to set, track, and achieve their financial goals – has been re-imagined and relaunched. REACH can now help you track your expenses, automatically categorize them, set budgets and even sort out how much you can spend without going broke. Link
+ Seyi Taylor witnessed someone struggle with the CAC portal – as with virtually every Nigerian commission portal ever made – before moving to DIYlawNG. Link
+ The folks at Black House Media have introduced Plaqad – a platform for placing content on websites, blog and social media – for testing.
+ Safaricom is compensating its subscribers with free M-Pesa transfers after Monday’s countrywide network outage. Link
+ Osagie claims here that Nigerian artistes buy YouTube views to manipulate public perception of their brands.
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 here.
Upcoming events
Lagos:Tech Meetup: Fundraising, April 27th. Link
Abidjan: GSMA Mobile 360 West Africa 2017, April 27th. Link
Lagos: Lead Space Happy Hour, April 28th. Link
Lagos: ReactJs Workshop, April 29th. Link
Lagos: Berkeley Haas Africa Business Forum 2017, April 29th. Link
Lagos: Startup Grind with Bassey Eyo, April 29th. Link
Lagos: The LXG Premier Gold Tournament, April 29th – May 1st. Link
Want to see your event in here? Add your event
Upcoming deadlines
Africa Entrepreneurship Award application deadline, April 28th. Link
Adansonia accelerator: Applications close on April 30th. Link
GoIgnite startup programme: Applications end on April 30th. Link
Up Accelerate: Applications also close on April 30th. Link
SpeedUp Africa: Apply before May 1st, people. Link
That’s all, folks!
Thanks for your time!
