| Timon Capital is an early-stage venture firm that’s been active in Africa for the last 18 months, closing over six investments in Sub-Saharan Africa in that time. This week, they’ve released a compensation survey with 50 participating companies across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa as a tool for entrepreneurs, hiring managers, investors, and job seekers. You can find more about the survey at: https://www.timoncapital.com/african-startup-compensation-survey
timoncapital.com | @timoncap |
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| Pan-African hub network organisation, AfriLabs has added 20 new hubs to its network. In Nigeria, it added Box Office Hub, MusterPoint Coworking Space, Exponential Hub, RAD5 Tech Hub, Cedar Hive, Capital Square and Cavic Hub; it added Tarkwa Entrepreneurship Development Hub in Ghana; Seme City in the Republic of Benin; OVillage in Ivory Coast; Suguba in Mali; Gear Box in Kenya, BlueMoon and Startup Factory in Ethiopia; Ennovate Hub in Tanzania; IdeiaLab in Mozambique; Dream Factory Innovation in Botswana; Junub Open Space in South Sudan and LaFactory by Screendy in Morocco. These new additions bring AfriLabs’ network to 174 hubs in 45 countries. It’s also important to know that the organisation will host its 2019 Annual Gathering from the 28th to 30th of October in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. |
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| South African startup DentX, which helps users get competitive quotes for vehicle body damage repairs, has raised R1-million (US$68,000) to introduce a new data-driven vehicle repair pricing platform that changes the way vehicle owners and insurance partners source quotes for repairs. The investment came from angel investors Frederik Gerner and Bas Hochstenbach, founders of the entrepreneurial investor team E4EAfrica. The company was founded last year and is planning to expand into five more South African cities in the near future. |
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| Much ado about IPOs. Within months of each other, Jumia AG, African e-commerce giant and Transsion Holdings, the phone maker with the biggest market share in Africa, floated their IPOs. Listing on the NYSE and Shanghai’s STAR market respectively, both companies raised a combined $616 million. A lot has happened since then including a financial fraud scandal that plunged Jumia’s stock prices after a great first few days of trading. In this article, Muyiwa places both listings side by side and analyses what the future of these public companies hold on the backdrop of fiercer competition and economic dynamics. |
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| The largest tech conference in the south and east of Nigeria begins on the 29th of October 2019. Startup South brings together innovators, founders and investors in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state for five days of masterclasses, panel session, workshops and avenues to network. TechCabal will hold a fireside chat with Funke Opeke, CEO of MainOne Services, on the 31st of October at the event. Join the TechCabal team at the chat to learn about deepening broadband penetration within Nigeria’s South-South/South-East region and beyond as well as MainOne’s recent projects regarding this in the country. Learn more about the event here. |
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| Also at the Startup South Conference, on October 30, TechCabal will hold a media and PR workshop for startups. The workshop will teach founders and entrepreneurs practical ways to approach media and publicity endeavors especially on a lean budget. The workshop is for entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs, communications and media managers, entrepreneurship support companies and anyone curious about tech publications. To attend, register here. |
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| Applications are open for the Africa Fintech Foundry’s three-month accelerator programme focused on startups across Africa that are using technology to disrupt their sector. Selected startups will receive executive entrepreneurship training, product-market fit, increased valuation, access to market and a global network of investors, founders and mentors. |
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| Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has renamed the Ministry of Communications to the “Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.” Some say it is a move to generate more money, especially after Minister Isa Pantami said so himself on Thursday. In this article, Alex tries to make sense of it all. |
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| A MESSAGE FROM OUR PARTNER |
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| Join innovators, thought leaders, founders, investors, policymakers from across South-South/South-East (and from the wider Nigerian Startup/Tech Ecosystem) in Uyo (South-South Nigeria) as the two regions meet to network, have startup & tech conversations and have fun. With over 60 parallel sessions (spread over 4 days) and over 5,000 participants, #StartupSouth is reputed as the biggest Startup/Entrepreneurship conference in the South-South/South-East. Attending the conference is free but registration is required. Register to attend here. There’s an opportunity for exhibitors here. |
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| Kenyan telco Safaricom has today announced the appointment of Mr. Peter Ndegwa as the company’s next CEO effective April 1, 2020. Ndegwa joins Safaricom from the British multinational Diageo PLC where he is the Managing Director of Diageo Continental Europe. he oversees operations of Diageo PLC in 50 countries in Western and Eastern Europe, Middle East and North Africa region. |
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| Co-founder and COO of Cairo-based transportation startup Swvl has left the company. Mahmoud Nouh is said to have resigned from his role to pursue new personal endeavors. Four months ago, the company raised $42 million at a valuation of $157 million in its Series B-2 round and just recently launched operations in Pakistan. Swvl is now one of the most valuable startups in the MENA region. |
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| Endeavor has added 24 new entrepreneurs from 12 markets to its entrepreneurship network at the 91st International Selection Panel (ISP) in Istanbul, Turkey. Nigerian entrepreneurs Chijioke Dozie and Ngozi Dozie of Carbon and Egyptian entrepreneur Karim Khorshed of Cequens are among the new batch of businesses admitted into the network. Once selected, Endeavor Entrepreneurs gain access to comprehensive customized services, including introductions to local and international business mentors and volunteers from Fortune 500 consulting firms who will help them address key needs as they continue to build high-impact businesses. Previously known as Paylater, Carbon is a digital microlending platform building out a robust financial services platform where customers can pay bills, buy airtime and manage income. Cequens is a Communication-Platform-as-a-Service provider specialising in omni-channel messaging for cloud communication. |
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| Early-stage fintech accelerator DFS Lab and The Subtext are organising a 5-part course about the opportunities in African Fintech. Learn more about the course and sign up here. |
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The next edition of the TechCabal Townhall is here! And this time, the focus is TC Townhall: Edtech & the Future of Work. Holding on November 29, 2019, we are bringing together regulators, government agencies, investors, entrepreneurs, NGOs, social enterprises and schools to set a strong agenda about how to leapfrog Africa’s education challenges and prepare our citizens for future jobs. If you would like to attend the townhall, please fill this form and we’ll keep you updated with the agenda.
We are also putting together a map of the African edtech industry. If you have an edtech startup or you are a technology company doing significant work in the industry we would like to hear from you. Please fill this form. |
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| The Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning in ICT has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) inviting growth-stage, educational technology (EdTech) innovators to apply for an opportunity to grow their ventures while contributing to improving the quality of education in Africa. The deadline for submissions is November 21, 2019. Learn more here. |
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| Fu’ad writes about the origins of the longstanding cordial relationship between Sierra Leone and Nigeria which dates back to 90s. The team is currently in its 6th country and on day 33 of the journey. Visit jollofroad.com every day to catch up on all the stories from the road! |
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That’s all,
Have a great weekend and we’ll see you next week.
– Kay
Remember to share TC Daily with your friends!
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