IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
Good morning ☀️ ️
Facebook is introducing Marketplace to thirty-five (35) countries across Sub-saharan Africa to help people discover a new way to shop online.
Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia have had the Marketplace feature since the beginning of the year and users could search for and purchase products from vendors close to them. Facebook is now rolling the feature out to its users in other African countries.
Watch out Botswana, Benin, Liberia, and Ghana, Facebook is bringing you this feature!
In today’s edition:
- Quick Fire 🔥
- Bumpa raises $200k
- YouTube is investing $100 million in Kenya
- TC Insights: Funding Tracker
- Tech Probe
- Events: Future of Commerce
QUICK FIRE 🔥 WITH FATMA NASUJO
Fatma Nasujo is currently the Global Head of Operational Excellence at Sokowatch. A financial services professional with 12+ years of experience working in FinTech, EdTech & banking, her expertise is in Operations, Tech & Finance, and she has used her skills to serve businesses across East Africa.
She’s passionate about financially empowering the under-served, and to that end, has worked with various companies including 4G Capital where she was the Chief Operations Officer, assisting them in designing products for this market. She’s the founder of Nasujo.com, a blog on financial literacy and digital finance trends.
Fatma, explain your job to a five-year-old.
I make sure neighborhood shops always have things to sell to their customers.
What has been the most important management decision of your career?
I fell in love with Operations and problem-solving so pursuing this even though my educational background is in computer science is probably one of the most important career decisions I have ever made. Working in Operations has provided me with great opportunities to solve problems and positively impact people’s lives by designing efficient systems. My technology education always helps in simplifying processes and knowing when and what to automate.
Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your 18-year-old self?
Pursue knowledge and new experiences. Keep learning and be open to new perspectives. Get out of your comfort zone, it’ll help in learning new things. Taking risks and making mistakes makes for more meaningful learning. Sometimes it gets uncomfortable, but you’re building new muscle, so stick with it.
What are you currently reading?
This year I started reading multiple books at the same time. I am currently reading Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste, Working Backwards by Bill Carr and Colin Bryar and The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.
If you did not have to sleep, how would you spend the extra hours?
I’d spend more time with my family, reading and on my other hobbies.
BUMPA RAISES $200K
Increase your online sales with a Paystack Storefront – a free, beautiful seller page that helps you bring creative ideas to life.
YOUTUBE IS INVESTING $100 MILLION IN KENYA
Short-form video content is killing it. From Instagram stories to TikTok to Reels, social media platforms are helping businesses and individuals hack growth by taking advantage of people’s short attention spans.
Last year, YouTube launched its own iteration, YouTube Shorts and now, it’s investing in Kenyan content creators who utilize the platform.
How much are we talking about?
About Ksh10.98 billion ($99 million) will be distributed between 2021 and 2022.
Content creators can earn up to Ksh1.1 million per month for every 15-second video they upload.
Engagement equals enrichment
YouTube mentioned that the funds will be distributed based on the content creators’ performances from the last month. Views and likes will be used to track just how engaging content creators are and how they’ll be rewarded.
The requirements for funding will also be changed on a month-to-month basis so YouTube is probably going to raise the bar to ensure that everyone gets a piece.
If there’s one criticism that YouTube, or social media platforms have gotten, it’s that they reward vanity metrics. It doesn’t matter if the content creator’s posts are original or not, what usually matters is how many views their posts get. With this new Shorts Fund, YouTube is looking to reward and recognize content creators across various verticals.
Zoom out: On the surface, YouTube is giving Kenyan content creators an income and a chance to shine on the global stage. It’s also obvious, however, that this is the platform’s attempt to compete with TikTok. Imagine a video shorts contest between Youtube’s 2 billion+ and TikTok’s estimated 1.1 billion users.
In other news: I just may be moving to Nairobi to start a new life as a food blogger.
Time to take control of your investing journey.
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TC INSIGHTS: FUNDING TRACKER
TECH PROBE
KB4-CON EMEA is a free, highly engaging, cybersecurity-focused virtual event designed for CISOs, security awareness and cybersecurity professionals in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The event will be on Thursday, September 23rd and features keynotes from two of the most well-known figures in cybersecurity. Mikko Hyppönen will cover how our global networks are being threatened by surveillance and crime, and how we can fix our technical, and human, problems. Kevin Mitnick will reveal social engineering tradecraft and insights and wow you with a live hacking demonstration. You can register here.
EVENTS: A PEEP AT THE #FUTUREOFCOMMERCE
With Favour Ogunlana – Head of Strategic Partnerships, Big Cabal Media.JOB OPPORTUNITIES
Every week, TechCabal shares job opportunities in the African ecosystem.
- Mastercard Foundation – Program Partner, Innovation – Accra, Ghana – Deadline: September 20
- Brink – Community Manager, East Africa, Innovation Manager, East Africa – Kenya/Rwanda – Deadline: September 15
- Sokowatch – Credit Administration Associate – Kampala, Uganda
- Flutterwave – Technical Writer, UX Writer – Lagos, Nigeria.
- PiggyVest – Social Media Associate – Lagos, Nigeria
There are more opportunities here. If you’d like to share a job opening or an opportunity, please fill this form.
What else we’re reading
Renaissance Capital, a leading emerging and frontier markets investment bank with extensive operations in Africa, will hold its 12th Annual Pan-Africa Investor Conference on 7–10 September 2021.
The online event will feature a specialist Nigeria Tech / Fintech Conference on 9 September 2021. Click here to register.