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Egyptian company, PrintX has raised $150,000 funding to develop an on-demand print production service in the country. The funding was provided by a Saudi angel investor, Muhammad Elbazz. Since it launched in 2017, PrintX has served the printing and production needs of customers by having an offline focus. Now it is developing a new business approach and will develop an online platform that allows customers to preview designs and track their orders. It also plans to expand its services to countries like Saudi Arabia next year.
The Nigerian tech community’s fight against the harassment of its members has dominated the headlines since Saturday’s assault on Toni Astro by officials of the dreaded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit of the Nigerian police. Since then, leaders of the community, including TechCabal have joined forces to condemn the assault and take concrete steps to end it. A potential lawsuit is on the way and we’re calling for those who have been on the receiving end of such inhumane treatment to reach out with their stories. Email us at team@techcabal.com. Also, well-meaning individuals can donate to the crowdfunding campaign for the lawsuit here.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has invested $1 million in Tunisia’s Anava Seed Fund (ASF). ASF is an early-stage fund and tech accelerator that is managed by Flat6Labs. The IFC said it is backing the fund to support tech entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs in the North African country. By doing this, the development financier wants to increase visibility and support for female-led businesses, and it will also improve access to venture capital for Tunisia’s rising entrepreneurial ecosystem. As part of the deal, the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), who provided part of the IFC funding, will offer strategies to boost women-led businesses and improve their access to more opportunities.
African-led entertainment company Kugali recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund an Augmented Reality art book called Finding Myths and Making Magic. This project mixes the innovative storytelling technology of Augmented Reality with the cultural diversity of Africa to explore some of the most important mythical figures and creatures from the continent. If you enjoy learning about cultures and looking at visually stunning imagery then this project is for you.
It’s Day 11 of #JollofRoad and the team is presently in Ghana where they made quick stops to Impact Hub and the Osu Castle. But the gang added one unplanned activity for their first day in Ghana. They called it a “near-death experience”. What was it? Read the team’s journal entry to find out. Fu’ad, Toke and Kayode are travelling on a bus through West Africa for 80 days curating their experiences of the food, people and culture. Daily journals and videos are being shared via a dedicated website. Got any suggestions about where they should go in Ghana? Share it with them here.
Dubai-based venture firm, BECO Capital has raised a $100 million fund to back startups in North Africa and the Middle East Venture Burn reports. The BECO Capital fund targets “companies that will serve regional and global markets.” The International Finance Corporation (IFC), Bahrain’s Al Waha Venture Capital Fund of Funds and Rimco Investments are three investors among others who invested in the fund. A previous BECO Capital fund invested in companies such as Careem, Swvl and MaxAB. The new raise wants to build on this for the region.
Madagascar’s Telecom Malagay (Telma) has signed a $100 million contract with Ericsson. Originally signed in July, the four-year deal was made public recently. The agreement covers network upgrade for Telma’s main network and radio access network (RAN) to increase capacity and offer improved connectivity for customers. Ericsson will also deploy 2,000 mobile sites to improve telecom coverage of the country.
There is nothing concrete to cheer about with regards to Nigeria’s ICT policy,The Guardian’s Adeyemi Adepetun writes. He writes that while the telecom industry has become an important GDP driver, software, hardware, e-learning and e-commerce are struggling to live up to their expectations. He examines why this is so and shares recommendations suggested by industry leaders.
That’s it for today,
We’ll be back tomorrow,
– Abubakar
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