👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Small changes at Big Cabal Media

Layoffs

More layoffs are happening across the ecosystem.

Last Friday, media startup Big Cabal Media—parent company to TechCabal and Zikoko—laid off 19% of its staff. Per the company, the layoffs are due to the harsh market conditions the business is facing this year.

This comes a year after it raised $2.3 million to expand its digital products. The company reportedly grew its revenue by 180% year-on-year by the end of H1 2023, but this significant growth still did not match its budgetary expectations.

Scaling down Citizen: The company also revealed that it is scaling down Zikoko Citizen, its new governance and politics publication which launched late last year. “In a different business environment, we intended for Citizen to have 12–18 months to figure out sustained revenue streams,” Big Cabal shared in company-wide communications. 

As a result of this, majority of the Citizen team were let go, while a few including EIC Akinyemi Muhammad were moved to other units within the company.

The big picture: Affected employees will receive two months’ severance pay in lieu of notice. The company also shared that it will recommend the outgoing employees to other businesses, writing letters of recommendation and assisting during the transition period.

In H2 2023, the company will focus on becoming a self-sustaining business, doubling down on TechCabal and TechCabal Insights. 

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Streaming

South Africa’s streaming service market is getting bigger.

And now, the South African government is considering licensing these platforms.

Last week, the department of communications and digital technologies released a white paper that seeks to create broader regulations for streaming services in the country.

Backstory: Last year, the country became the first African country to get Disney+, and one of the few African countries, including Uganda, where AppleTV is available. 

This proliferation means that local streaming services like MultiChoice or eTV have seen their subscribers decline in recent times. In fact, MultiChoice—in June—reportedly lost over 100,000 subscribers, a loss it attributes to competition from streaming platforms like Netflix. While local streaming services face regulatory hurdles to operate in the country, international services have been exempted from obtaining a licence in the country.

That could change soon.

An unfair advantage: Per South Africa’s communications department, international streaming services have created an unfair playing field for everyone in the market. 

The white paper aims to establish a more comprehensive regulatory description encompassing all content services transmitted via electronic communications networks, such as fixed and mobile broadband networks, digital satellite broadcasting networks, and terrestrial distribution networks. The communications department proposes a fresh licensing framework in South Africa that distinguishes between linear and non-linear services while ensuring fair competition among various service providers, as outlined in the draft.

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Ecosystem

Last week, Nigeria’s tech ecosystem received a boost when Bosun Tijani, founder and CEO of CcHub, a long-standing accelerator, was nominated as one of the country’s new ministers.

Shortly after Tijani’s nomination, however, old tweets where the founder criticised the Nigerian government began to resurface.

An expensive country? In one tweet from 2019, Tijani said, “‘Nigeria’ is a bloody expensive tag to have against your name. Leave patriotism for a minute – that tag is a bloody waste of energy. A second foreign passport isn’t sufficient to clean the ‘sin.’”

At his ministerial screening on Saturday, the founder was quizzed by senators at the Nigerian parliament.

Tijani’s response was that taken alone, the tweets did not paint the entire picture. 

For instance, he shared that he made the tweet about Nigeria being an expensive tag after an incident at the Chinese Embassy because of his Nigerian passport. “I am a patriotic Nigerian. “I believe so much in this country and I won’t do anything to undermine the integrity of this country,” he said. “The tweets online don’t represent me at all. As a young man born and bred by Yoruba parents, tender my sincere apology. I am profusely sorry.” Senate President Godswill Akpabio accepted the apology on behalf of the Senate after some Senators spoke in Tijani’s defence citing his impressive credentials.

The tech ecosystem has also rallied in support of Tijani with several key players like Andela founder Iyin Aboyeji, ex-CEO of Printivo Oluyomi Ojo, and Lifebank CEO Temie Giwa-Tubosun tweeting in support of the founder.

At this time, Tijani, who also apologised for the tweets, is yet to be confirmed as the minister. 

TC Insights

Electric mobility in Africa is still in its development stage. Although the sales of electric vehicles (EVs) on the continent have increased in recent years, they have remained the lowest worldwide. 

For instance, South Africa is the continent’s largest e-mobility market, yet electric vehicles account for 0.05% of the total 12 million automobiles in the country at 1,000 EVs as of 2022. While these electric vehicles offer cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternatives, their path to widespread adoption is faced with controversy and challenges.

The chart shows that the projected stock of electric vehicles (EVs) in sub-Saharan Africa by 2040 is expected to be 13.5 million in the base case and 25 million in the accelerated case. The base case assumes that current trends continue while the accelerated case assumes that there are significant policy interventions to accelerate the transition to EVs.

As the majority of EVs in sub-Saharan Africa are expected to be two-wheelers, this also makes electric motorcycles hold significant potential in Africa, given the continent’s vast fleet of two-wheeled vehicles due to their affordability, durability, and manoeuvrability as attractive options for African riders. Now, the ambitious goals of African EV startups are met with doubts due to several factors such as high EV prices, unfriendly government policies, lack of charging infrastructure, high customs duties, and poorly maintained roads create substantial roadblocks for the industry.

A major hurdle for EV adoption in Africa is the reliability and affordability of electricity supply. Inconsistent electricity availability and sky-high prices are clogging the wheels of EV adoption in Africa. African governments need to elevate their game and invest in improving the grid infrastructure to power up the EV revolution. However, such infrastructure development requires substantial investment. According to estimates, annual funding of $100 million is needed from international governments and aid organizations to scale EV adoption in Africa to 10% of total vehicle sales by 2027.

Africa’s electric vehicle revolution promises a jolly ride towards sustainable transportation. But there’s controversy already in the air. From carbon footprints to charging challenges and the need for international funding, the road ahead may be a bit bumpy. African governments, alongside international support, need to step on the accelerator, address policy barriers, and spark innovation to make this EV adventure a success to set Africa ready for an electrifying future on its roads.

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Crypto Tracker

Source:

Coin Name	Current Value	Day	Month
Bitcoin	$29,004	+ 0.08%	– 4.24%
Ether	$1,829	– 0.18%	– 3.02%
Shiba Inu	$0.000009	– 8.56%	+ 28.56%
Worldcoin	$2.04	– 3.45%	+ 22.47%

* Data as of 21:09 PM WAT, August 6, 2023.

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Job openings

• Helium Health – Software Engineer (Frontend) – Lagos, Nigeria (Unspecified)
• Code for Africa – Senior Product Manager – Nigeria (Remote)
• Kaelo – Digital Marketing Manager– South Africa(On-site)
• Anvil Shield Holdings – Software Developer (Java) – Nairobi, Kenya (Unspecified) 
• Kuda – Product Manager – Nigeria (Remote)
• Axiz (Pty) Ltd – Junior Product Manager – South Africa ( Unspecified)
• Wikimedia Foundation – Senior Software Engineer – Nigeria (Remote)
• Incubeta – Paid Media Manager – South Arica (On-site)

There are more jobs on TechCabal’s job board. If you have job opportunities to share, please submit them at bit.ly/tcxjobs. 

What else is happening in tech?

• Banks are winning the opportunity to facilitate cross-border payments for Africa’s small businesses
• A Ponzi scheme targets desperate workers amid Zimbabwe’s employment crisis
• Why African governments must prioritize affordable internet and smartphones

Timi Odueso & Ayomide Agbaje

Edited by –

Timi Odueso

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