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MTN Nigeria’s official listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange will take place today. This follows the registration of the company’s shares with the Securities Exchange Commission announced last week. The listing which will happen by introduction will value the subsidiary at $5 billion, Bloomberg reports. The group’s shares yesterday rose by 0.7% valuing the company at $13 billion. MTN has faced pressure from governments and regulators to give local investors in some of the countries where it operates a piece of the company.                                                                                                  

US Law firm, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP has filed a class action suit against Jumia. The lawsuit, which accuses the e-commerce company of misleading investors, is based on allegations by short seller Andrew Left that Jumia lied about the number of its customers and vendors. Two law firms have also published notices here and here asking investors who have lost more than $100,000 to come forward and join a lawsuit. It essentially spells more trouble for Jumia which reported in its Q1 2019 results that its operating losses increased although the total amount of goods sold (Gross Merchandise Value) also increased. Catch our reporting of Jumia’s Post-IPO troubles here and here.

EchoVC invested in the recently announced Series A round for World Cover. In this article, the team at EchoVC explain why they joined the investment round for the insurtech startup. The team also shared its thinking for backing Riby Finance which was one of the beneficiaries of the $2 million fintech challenge fund. Check it out here.

South Africa’s Competition Commission has recommended that Naspers’ acquisition of a 60% stake in WeBuyCars should be stopped. Naspers announced last year that it was investing $94 million in the car buying service. The Competition Commission said the acquisition could exclude WeBuyCar’s competitors (and eventually result in higher prices) due to Naspers vantage position as owner of Autotrader, OLX Group and its investment in the Frontier Car Group. OLX Group announced an investment of $89 million in Frontier Car Group in May 2018.

Applications are still open for African deep tech or hardware-based startups to join CcHub’s PitchDrive Asia in partnership with Google for Startups. The three-week, five-city tech tour across Singapore, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Tokyo will provide startups with an opportunity to forge international partnerships with Asian manufacturing or supply companies and raise additional funding. Apply here before May 20.

Somalia’s government has announced that it will shut down social media access in the country to prevent high school students from cheating during their upcoming national exams. The government took the decision when the ministry of education discovered papers were being sold and shared on social media platforms. The ministry cancelled tests that started on May 11 and postponed them to May 27 thereby sparking protests in the country. Internet and social media shutdown are quite expensive so it doesn’t make much sense that the government believes that a shutdown is a solution.

Imisi 3D is holding the next edition of its AR/VR Africa Meetup on Saturday, May 18th. Team members from Microsoft’s Mixed Reality and AI group will attend the event including Alex Kipman, Technical Fellow – AI and Mixed Reality. Entry is by registration only, sign up here.

The South African Law Reform Commission has proposed the blocking of porn by default to protect children. The commission recommended that all devices be issued or returned “to a default setting that blocks inappropriate content, with an opt-in possibility depending on proof of age of the buyer/user as being 18 and older”.

From TechCabal

+ Growing Nigeria’s Health Tech Sector 

+  How to Fix Healthcare in Nigeria