View this email in your browser

PRESENTED BY LOCALCOINEXCHANGE

15 – 10 – 2018


 

If you would like to buy, sell or trade cryptocurrencies, P2P Crypto Exchange, LocalCoinExchange facilitates over-the-counter trading of local currency for cryptocurrencies, the most comfortable way possible. Users post advertisements on the website, where they state exchange rates and payment methods for buying or selling Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Binance Coin and other cryptocurrencies. Other users reply to these advertisements and agree to pay with online banking or meet the person to buy cryptocurrencies with cash. LocalCoinExchange has a reputation and feedback mechanism for users and an escrow and conflict resolution service. Find out how to get started here

BIG NEWS from Flutterwave. They’ve raised a Series A extension round (what’s that?) bringing their total funding to $20 million and have brought a global payments legend onto the board. But, and it’s a big “but”…it’s CEO, Iyin Aboyeji is also stepping down, to catch up on sleep and focus on family. Flutterwave co-founder, Olugbenga Agboola who is relatively reticent, is moving from his CTO role into the CEO position. Iyin “E” Aboyeji was co-founder of Andela before moving on to Flutterwave in 2016. Read all about it on Techcabal.

Khula has emerged overall winner of the 2018 MTN Business App of the Year Awards. The agriculture supply chain platform comprises different apps focused on farmers and logistics providers. Khula has 500 active farmers on its platform and traded more than R 300,000 (~ $21,000) in its pilot phase. 

We recently shared details from a World Bank report which said that mobile money has overtaken cash in Somalia. In an interview for the Conservation, Tim Kelly, ICT Policy Specialist at the World Bank, spoke with Victor Owuor about the report’s findings and its implications for Somalia. One of the risks of the country’s mobile money system is that it is vulnerable to money laundering and terrorism financing due to weak KYC compliance. Read the interview here and check out the full report here

The Africa Data Centre Association (ADCA), a non-profit professional association recently launched in Morocco. The association which now has 30 data centre operators and 30 partners/suppliers will foster the development of the data centre industry in Africa. Sonatel’s Fatoumata Sarr Dieng was elected as President, Ayotunde Coker of Rack Centre Nigeria was appointed as Secretary-General while Wouter Van Hulten of Paix Data Centres, Ghana was elected Treasurer. 

Telkom is in talks to buy Netone, Zimbabwe’s state-owned telco. This follows a 6-9 month ultimatum the Zimbabwean government issued to the parastatal to privatize due to under-performance. The government incurred a total loss of $270 million last year from over a third of its parastatals. NetOne is Zimbabwe’s second largest telecoms operator after Econet Wireless.

Safaricom has been named the 67th best employer in the world by Forbes. South Africa’s Naspers which ranked 224 (out of 500) was one of the three other African companies on the list. Alphabet, Microsoft and Apple topped Forbes’ 2018 World’s Best Employers’ list. 

Takealot is planning to open a customer collections centre in Gauteng, South Africa per a report by TechCentral. The company which is considered one of SA’s top online retailers is largely owned by Naspers (96%). Naspers is said to have invested about R4.5 billion (~$310m) in the company to date. 

Boabab+ has partnered with PayJoy to provide smartphones and tablets on a pay-as-you-go basis. The companies will be providing two PAYG tablets; an Educa Tablet for chidren and a Business Tablet for entrepreneurs in Ivory Coast, Senegal and Madagascar.  

Jumia’s Aya Ashraf has joined Aqarmap, Egypt’s online real estate marketplace as Director of Operations Growth. She was previously the Head of Operations Excellence at Jumia. Aya will be responsible for Aqarmap’s growth outside Egypt.

SA dronetech startup, Aerobotics has launched five new precision agriculture products. The products were developed to help fruit and wine farmers to detect pests and diseases. They products include a drone scouting application, problem detection software, an app that uses AI generated scouting routes, another that enables AI-enabled disease identification and an intuitive reporting tool. The company raised $2m Series A funding in July. 

Coinfirm, a UK-based blockchain regtech startup, has launched an anti-fraud platform for cryptocurrencies in partnership with Nigeria’s KAD ICT Hub. Coinfirm plans to implement its blockchain platform, AMLT Network, into an “Africa Blockchain Lab.” The dedicated local network would allow Nigerians to report cryptocurrency scams. It will work with KAD ICT Hub to train Nigerians to identity and report these scams. 

A new study by non-profit Girl Effect and the Vodafone Foundation has found that teenage girls in countries like Nigeria, Rwanda, Malawi and Tanzania were 50% less likely to own a smartphone compared to boys. More than half of the girls surveyed borrowed a phone (mainly from mothers & elder sisters) compared to 28% of boys. The limited access keeps girls away from the life-changing technologies mobile phones offer. 

Ventures Platforms is holding VP Office Hours for female-owned businesses. The event will take place on October 19 by 3 pm at the British Council, Ikoyi, Lagos. It will feature  Paystack’s Khadijah Abu, PiggyBank’s Layo Ogunbanwo and Workstation’s Michelle Andrade. Register here

 

Thanks for reading.

Sincere apologies for a late digest (Bankole’s fault, seriously). Have a great week ahead, folks. We’ll see you tomorrow. 
 
– Olanrewaju

Be a blessing to someone. Share this digest. 

Share

Tweet

Forward

Copyright © 2018 Big Cabal Media, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up on TechCabal.com

Our mailing address is:

Big Cabal Media
Plot B, Block 1, Industrial Avenue, Ilupeju Industrial Estate

Ilupeju 100252

Nigeria

Add us to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.