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CBN DENIES NAIRA DEVALUATION
Yesterday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) dismissed claims that it devalued the naira to ₦630 per $1 from the ₦461 it previously was.
The CBN debunked the claim in a statement posted on Twitter, stating that “For the avoidance of doubt, the exchange rate at the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) window, traded this morning (June 1, 2023) at ₦465/US$1 and has been stable around this rate for a while.”
TechCabal also confirmed the official exchange rate of ₦464/$1 from Stanbic IBTC Bank, one of Nigeria’s top financial institutions.
What led to these claims? Yesterday, Daily Trust exclusively reported that “the CBN devalued the Naira to ₦630/$1”. Based on a solitary transaction, the publication sourced its story from the rate obtained through the Importers and Exporters window, leading Daily Trust to believe that a devaluation had occurred.
The origins of the devaluation reports can be traced back to Nigerian president Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s inauguration speech on May 29, in which he affirmed his administration’s commitment to addressing the existing foreign exchange (FX) policy.
Notably, Nigeria operates multiple exchange windows, with the official rates (₦464) trading significantly lower than the parallel market rate (₦750).
Moniepoint is Africa’s second-fastest growing company, as shown in FTs latest report. We also processed 1 billion transactions worth $43 billion in Q1 alone. Read all about it here.
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PRESIDENT RUTO LAUNCHES SECOND PHASE OF HUSTLERS FUND
Yesterday, Kenyan president, William Ruto, launched the second phase of Hustlers Fund.
As part of this phase of the Fund, the government plans to provide financial support to Chamas and SACCOs, aiming to address issues of exclusion and barriers hindering their access to credit and savings opportunities.
What are Chama and SACCOs? A Chama is an informal cooperative society that is normally used to pool and invest savings by people in East Africa, particularly Kenya. A SACCO is an abbreviation for Savings and Credit Co-operative. SACCOs are user-owned financial institutions that offer both savings and credit services to their members.
Per Ruto, in this phase of the Hustler programme, the loan amounts provided range from a minimum of Ksh50,000 ($365) and have the potential to reach as high as Ksh1 million ($7,302). “Your credit score will determine the amount you can access, and the amount you will continue to receive,” he said.
ICYMI: In April, TechCabal reported that the first phase of Hustlers Fund managed to dish out Ksh26.4 billion ($198 million) to a staggering 18 million Kenyans in just five months.
MORE FROM TECHCABAL
Increased fuel prices raise questions about the future of work in Nigeria.
Two years post-acquisition, Paystack is expanding products and gunning for roots in African markets.
500K RETAIL CUSTOMERS AFFECTED BY DATA BREACH IN SA
South African retail giant JD Group has announced that it suffered a data breach that exposed the personal information of over half a million of its customers. Affected stores include Bradlows, Everyshop, HiFi Corp, Incredible (Connection), Rochester, Russells, and Sleepmasters.
The extent of the damage: According to the retail chain, the leaked data include names, email addresses, home addresses, ID numbers, and in some cases, phone numbers of over 500,000 JD Group and 67,000 Everyshop customers. The data was made available for sale on a hacker forum for as low as $3.60 (R70).
According to the company’s CEO Peter Griffiths, “immediate action” is being taken to investigate and mitigate the impact of the breach.
Zoom out: According to INTERPOL’s 2022 Africa Cyberthreat Assessment report, South Africa leads the continent in the number of cybersecurity threats identified.
In 2022, the country had 230 million threat detections in total. In second place was Morocco at 71 million.
TC INSIGHTS: FUNDING TRACKER
This week, Morrocan PrestaFreedom, a home services marketplace, raised $1.1 million in an undisclosed funding round from Azur International Fund.
Here are the other deals this week:
- Zofi, an Uganda-based fintech company, raised $1 million in pre-seed funding from Advancly, a Nigerian-based investor Advancly.
- Moroccan health tech company DataPathology received $1 million in an undisclosed funding round from Azur Innovation Fund.
- Zydii, a Kenya-based digital training company, raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-seed funding round from DOB Equity, Kua Ventures, Kaleo Ventures, and NaiBAN.
That’s it for this week!
Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. You can also visit DealFlow, our real-time funding tracker.
THE WORLD WIDE WEB3
|
|
|
|---|---|---|
|
Bitcoin 
|
$26,890 |
– 0.77% |
|
Ether 
|
$1,868 |
+ 0.23% |
|
BNB
|
$305 |
– 0.07% |
|
Cardano
|
$0.36 |
– 2.50% |
|
|
Source: CoinMarketCap
|
|
* Data as of 23:10 PM WAT, June 1, 2023.
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Our comprehensive report, in partnership with WellaHealth and Whirlspot Media, delves into the fascinating connection between health packages and job retention. It explores how health maintenance organisations (HMOs) influence the decisions of employees across 12 industries to stay or leave their jobs.
Don’t miss out on the actionable insights from this study. Learn the best practices to foster a healthier, happier, and more loyal workforce by getting the report now.
JOB OPENINGS
- Paystack – Data Engineering Lead – Nigeria (Not specified)
- Tony Blair Institute for Global Change – Digital Transformation Advisor – Accra, Ghana (Hybrid)
- Kyosk.app – Product Manager – Kenya (Remote)
- Ilara Health – WordPress Developer – Kenya (On-site)
- Stack Shift – Startup Research Intern – Nigeria (Remote)
- Cavista – Product Manager – Lagos, Nigeria (Remote)
- Mountain Slayers – Digital Content Creator and Moderator – Uganda (Remote)
- World Vision – Graphics Designer – Uganda (unspecified)
There are more jobs on TechCabal’s job board. If you have job opportunities to share, please submit them at bit.ly/tcxjobs.
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Written by – Mariam Muhammad & Ephraim Modise
Edited by – Timi Odueso & Kelechi Njoku
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