👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Nigeria’s AI dream gets $1.5 million richer

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Nigeria gets additional $1.5 million AI fund

When Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s tech minister launched the National AI strategy, people criticised it. They saw the strategy—which provided a framework for the development and implementation of AI systems in the country—as putting the cart before the horse.

Critics highlighted the absence of crucial infrastructure—electricity and compute—needed to support the growth of AI.

Given the country’s cost-of-living crisis, many Nigerians also found it difficult to justify pursuing any ambition beyond stabilising the country’s economy.

Yet, the minister’s argument has been simple: there is no better time to ride on the wave of emerging technologies like AI to address the nation’s problem. 

“We know our limitations, but we have clarity in terms of what we can do with AI and how to go about it. We may not have the compute, but we have young people that can be trained to build global AI solutions,” Bosun Tijani told TechCabal in an interview last month.

The Minister has gone on to launch Nigeria’s first Multilingual Large Language Model (LLM), alongside the National AI Strategy.

In September, Bosun Tijani was once again criticised after he announced that the ministry had received its first tranche of investment for the AI research and development fund. It was a ₦100 million ($61,500) donation from Google. The money will just be enough to purchase two Nvidia GPUs which usually costs between $30,000 and $40,000.

Bosun Tijani, at the time, said people failed to realise that the government was in talks for more funds. One of those funds is an additional $1.5 million from Luminate group. The funds which will be launched today is the latest move by the government to bolster AI development in the country. The government also plans to launch an AI collective this week as well as a National Artificial Intelligence Trust.

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Kenya is having quite the year. Its drawn-out protests, debt defaults, and members of parliament railing into Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua as they call for his impeachment are some of the obvious highlights of the year. Yet, the country is finding ways to win.

On Thursday, Kenya amended its citizenship and immigration regulations to introduce a Digital Nomad Visa. This visa targets individuals who work remotely for foreign employers while choosing their own work locations. 

According to the amended regulation, applicants to the visa program must be employed by a non-Kenyan company, be earning an annual base salary of $55,000, and have no criminal history.

Kenya hopes the visa will bring more remote workers into the country, boosting its tourism sector, which grew by 21.3% in the first half of 2024, generating KES142.5 billion ($1.1 billion). In addition to tourism, the visa is expected to benefit other sectors like housing, transportation, and hospitality.

However, details of the program, such as the visa’s processing time, the duration of stay, and the pathway to getting Kenyan citizenship remain unclear. More information is expected to be communicated soon as the program takes shape.

Kenya will join other countries like Seychelles, Mauritius, Namibia, and Cape Verde which have successfully rolled out digital nomad visas, offering remote workers tax breaks and a chance to live and work from beautiful cities.

Remote work is growing in popularity worldwide and countries want to capitalise on it. In Nigeria, Lagos State will tax remote workers. Kenya, needing a quick win, will also try and tap into this growing travel-work culture. It is unclear if, and how much tax digital nomads in Kenya will pay.

Fidelity Bank, a Nigerian tier-2 bank with a market capitalisation of ₦323 billion, has reported a ₦200.8 billion ($125.5 million) pre-tax profit for the second quarter of 2024. The results were driven by a surge in net interest income and gains from financial assets.

The bank’s net interest income soared by 202%, reaching ₦326.4 billion ($200 million) during the period. This significant increase was fueled by rising interest rates and a growing loan portfolio. Additionally, Fidelity Bank’s fees and commission income rose by 45%, reflecting strong growth in its non-interest income streams.

To reward its shareholders, the bank has proposed an interim dividend of ₦0.85 per ordinary share. This dividend payout is expected to further enhance investor sentiment and attract additional capital inflows into the bank.

The bank’s total assets grew by 27% year-on-year to ₦7.9 trillion ($4.9 billion) up from ₦6.2 trillion ($3.8 billion) in the same period last year. Per its financial statement, the bank is currently profitable. 

Fidelity Bank’s strong financial performance comes after the bank raised over ₦127.1 billion ($78 million) in August as part of the CBN recapitalisation mandate.