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Having a good credit history is important for you to access finance, big or small, now or in the future. Branch, through its services, helps you build your credit history which will, in turn, get you access to larger amounts, cheaper interest rates and flexible terms. All you need to start is a smartphone, a bank account and a valid ID. You don’t have to take our word for it, see for yourself.
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Good morning, people! We made a mistake in yesterday’s Uber blurb: “… has covered 1.4 kilometers in Africa since its launch …” which was meant to say “ … has covered 1.4 billion kilometers in Africa since its launch …” We apologize for this and a big thank you to everyone who reached out about it. Unto today’s digest …
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The Tanzanian government has directed all AirBnB hosts in the country to register their homes with the government within 50 days or face arrest, in a move the government says it’s making to boost tourism revenues in the country. It also says after the 50 days are over, enforcement authorities will go from “house to house” to check for defaulters.
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South Africa-based mobile journalism startup, Hashtag Our Stories, has raised $150K in funding from Snapchat’s Yellow accelerator. Hashtag Our Stories is one of nine startups (and the only non-US startup) selected to be a part of the accelerator’s inaugural class. Hashtag Our Stories will also receive business support and a three-month residency in Venice, California, USA for what Ventureburn posits is a 7-10% equity stake.
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South Africa-based Liquid Telecom’s “One Africa” Cairo-to-Cape Town network has gone live. It is the first direct land-based communication between South Africa and Egypt and stretches over 10 000 kilometres.
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Two Egyptian angel investment networks, Cairo Angels and Alex Angels, have made their first syndicated investment and its in co-working startup AlMaqarr (founded 2013). This is Cairo Angels’ first investment in the co-working space and AlMaqarr will use the funding to expand its operations into other locations.
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Sudpay, a Senegalese payments startups, has been announced as winner of Seedstars Dakar and will go on to represent the country at the global competition for a chance to win $1 million in funding. Sudpay won for its “Townpay” solution which enables municipalities to collect more revenue by digitising the collection of local taxes.
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If you’re subscribed to Andile Masuku’s Africa Tech Roundup, then you must know that Ethiopian software development company, Apposit, handles software development for Nigeria-based fintech startup, Paga. Techpoint took a deeper look at that relationship, establishing that Paga, which just raised $10 million in a Series B2 round, plans to have a Nigeria-based dev team and has sent three people over to Ethiopia to learn the ropes.
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Visa has appointed Marianne Mwaniki as its new Vice President of Social Impact, a role which will see her lead the Visa Foundation and handle the company’s comprehensive strategy in the areas of financial inclusion, financial literacy, corporate social responsibility and corporate giving programs. Prior to joining Visa, Marianne was Managing Director, Individual Clients, Africa at Standard Chartered Bank Africa.
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Ghana-based Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) will invest a total of $700K in 7 startups ($100K each) from 6 countries in its 2018 cohort of startups that have participated in its year-long program. The startups are ShareHouse (shared warehousing), Nvoicia (invoice discounting), Truckr (logistics), Jumeni (waste management), Judy (AI x Law), CodeIn (developer placements), Bace (KYC).
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SheDesigns is doing a design challenge for women interested in design. Preference is for newbies with little or no experience, but all women are welcome. Link to apply is here.
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That’s All!
We’ll see you tomorrow.
– Akindare
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Delight your friends and annoy your enemies by sharing this digest!
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