Jack in, Jack out
Nigeria’s tech ecosystem has got clout.
Alibaba founder and Asia’s most famous startup titan, Jack Ma, is visiting Nigeria. The 55-year old billionaire flew all of 15 hours to grace the Nigeria Digital Economy Summit in Abuja on Thursday, meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Ma, founder of the Africa Netpreneur prize, is sure to be full of tales of the house he built to the amazement of the world. China’s strong economic growth has become a reference point for African leaders – principally Paul Kagame of Rwanda. More than anyone, Ma typifies the entrepreneurial spirit that contributed to China’s success.
It’s an exciting time in Nigeria’s technology-entrepreneurship space to have two of the most successful modern entrepreneurs visit back-to-back. If he makes it to Lagos, enthusiasts will hope he stops for more than just photographs. |
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| Ever tried to find a house in Lagos? Checking online is usually the first step as it allows you see a preview without having to do leg work. But most people can’t go beyond this because many online real estate platforms are simply “a medium for the advertisement” of houses, that don’t facilitate transactions or work directly with landlords or agent associations to do so. Digital platforms like Propertypro and Jiji have long promised to cut off the inconvenience customers face dealing with agents offline. However, everything that makes house hunting bad subsists. How can these technology-enabled real estate businesses truly change the experience for people? Read Abubakar’s careful analysis on the subject. |
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| Egypt’s largest online medication ordering platform, Yodawy has raised $1 million a in Series A round led by Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, CVentures, with participation from ASI Ventures, an Egyptian angel investor firm. The startup was founded in 2018 to enable users browse and order medications and personal care products through a mobile app. With a network of over 2500 partners across the 97-million people nation, the service gives patients access to their medical insurance co-payment plan.
Insurers had a strong 2018 in Egypt owing to sustained economic growth, rising interest rates, and higher investment income, according to a 2019 Deloitte Egypt study. With its new funds, Yodawy could been set to play a role in the transformation required for long-term growth in the country’s health insurance sector. |
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| We are hearing that OBus, the intra-city bus service belonging to OPay, has been suspended. The service is barely three months old in Lagos but has apparently faced immense difficulties operating within the same environment as the city’s yellow buses and their notoriously implacable area boys and transport union. It may also have something to do with a questionable business model; OPay’s revisions of transfer charges raised concerns regarding its aggressive strategy towards growth since its Nigerian launch.
These are surely interesting times for the green elephant. Worth keeping an eye on. |
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MTN Nigeria has continued to set the pace as far as People Management is concerned in Nigeria and the Investors In People (IIP) body has repeatedly confirmed this. The IIP is a global body which assesses people practices across organisations in 75 countries, comprising about 11 million odd employees. This year, MTN Nigeria has just clinched the IIP Platinum Certification, the highest possible to be held by any company in the world and the first Nigerian company to achieve this feat.
With this, the company joins the elite 2% of corporations in the world that hold the widely coveted certification.
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| Speaking of MTN, the South African business of the telecom giant has selected Ericsson as its supplier of 5G equipment. The deal will see Ericsson supply products and solutions from its Radio Access Network (RAN), transport and Core portfolios.
What does this imply? Well, MTN South Africa will be upgrading its core network to support 3GPP-compliant 5G Non-Standalone architecture. This week at AfricaCom 2019, participants witnessed Africa’s first live video call with 5G technology and the VR capability of a 5G motion-controlled robot and a live interview conducted via hologram.
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| Would you bet on mobile money being a catalyst for a thriving betting economy? If you look to Kenya, the answer should be yes. At the moment, the gambling scene is in a difficult situation in the country. However, betting and pay-TV are the most popular mobile money payment categories in Kenya at 82 percent, according to data collected by GeoPoll on mobile money use across different categories in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria.
On a continent were about 370 million people – 65% of the population – are excluded from banking services, mobile money platforms perform the function of providing access to financial services as well as for fulfilling basic retail needs. |
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| Are you a Nigerian, Kenyan or South African female founder using tech to solve a local development challenge? The International Tech Hub Network, Africa-UK invites you to apply for the Africa-UK: Female Tech Founders 2020 programme. Through a series of masterclasses, events and workshops, Female Founders 2020 aims to support gender inclusive economic growth in Africa. With a specific focus on the skills and connections to overcome the existing digital gender gap, tech experts from the UK and the Department for International Trade’s Global Entrepreneur Programme (GEP) Dealmakers and alumni, including prominent female tech leaders, will facilitate the activities.
Interested? Apply here before November 21, 2019 |
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| We are barely two weeks away!
TechCabal is holding an invite-only matching and networking session for investors and edtech startups at our townhall on edtech and future of work. It will take place on November 29, 2019 at the Zone Tech Park, Gbagada Expressway, Lagos. If you are an investor interested in meeting or learning about the startups that are the future of edtech, sign up here so we can get in touch. If you are startup interested in meeting key investors, let us know here.
To attend the Townhall, click here to buy your tickets. To enjoy our early-bird discount, click here or use the code TCEDTECH at checkout. Further discounts apply for companies/individuals buying at least 5 tickets. Please click here to enjoy our corporate discounts.
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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| Data Science Nigeria, a leading promoter of artificial intelligence adoption and education in Nigeria, will hold its ‘Artificial Intelligence for Socio-Economic Development Summit’ on Tuesday, 19th November 2019 at Oriental Hotel, Vicoria Island Lagos. At the Summit, the organisation will unveil its first artificial intelligence book, ‘Beginners’ Artificial Intelligence & Python Programming’. The book’s lead author is Olubayo Adekanmbi, a respected thought-leader within the Nigerian AI community using his privilege to change the world. |
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Angola Cables and Nokia performed a live test of the first direct fibre link between Africa and North America. The trial is part of a collaboration that will see both companies provide a direct, low-latency transatlantic path from Luanda to Boca Raton. The network routing between Sangano in Angola and Boca Raton in Florida has completed final acceptance, according to Angola Cables.
How did it achieve the direct fibre link? By using Nokia technology to connect two undersea cable systems to create an express optical route: the South Atlantic Cable System (SACS), and MONET. |
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| Senegal has been a fun place for the #JollofRoad team. Ferrying in from the Gambia, running into other Nigerians on a West African road trip of their own and combining adventure notes has been thrilling.
Until now. “I still feel no rage, just gratitude that the night didn’t take an even uglier turn,” writes Toke on a most hideous development since this trip began 54 days ago. We have come this far without an incident of this magnitude. But it is important that you, dear reader, know that Africa’s many beauties do not mask the despicable realities such as this. Stay tuned to jollofroad.com every day to catch up on all the stories from Senegal and the remaining four countries. Join the conversation on Telegram and WhatsApp. |
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Are you grateful for the weekend?
Have a refreshing one. See you on Monday
– Alexander
Share the gist with a friend. It’s the good thing to do
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