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Hello, welcome to today’s edition of TC Daily! If this mail was forwarded to you, please take a moment to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future editions.
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| MultiChoice Africa wants to slash the price of DStv and GoTV subscriptions. The company announced the move on Wednesday, revealing it will cut prices by up to 5% and 37% in different countries by September 1. While MultiChoice did not reveal what countries it plans to implement this, one report showed that users in countries like Mozambique, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania have already been informed about this. Similar to other parts of the world, streaming services are gradually gaining a foothold in Africa and could impact the subscriber base of pay-TV services like DStv. As the continent’s biggest pay-TV provider, MutiChoice is taking different measures to maintain its lead. It has already developed two streaming services of its own, one provides live DStv viewing and the other is an on-demand video streaming service. According to MyBroadband Africa, the planned price cut is an effort by the South African company to prop up DStv’s pay-TV customer base while its streaming platforms gain traction. |
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| In more MultiChoice news, the Information Communication Technology Union (ICTU), a South African trade union, is leading a strike action by workers of the company. The strike hinges on the sack of 2,194 workers in MultiChoice’s call centres and walk-in centres. The strike begins today, Friday, August 23, and the ICTU expects it to inconvenience the company’s 7.7 million subscribers in South Africa. |
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| The #PitchdriveAsia Tour organised by CcHUB in partnership with GoogleforStartups has started. Ten African deep technology and hardware startups have converged at the Design Lab in Kigali, Rwanda for a two-day bootcamp and will continue through five Asian cities known for their deep tech and hardware ecosystems. Learn more here and sign up to follow the tour. |
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| Jumia’s latest financial report has generated some controversy since it was released on Wednesday, August 21. In the report, the online retailer admitted that some members of Jumia Force (JForce), its independent sales consultant program, had perpetuated fraudulent transactions amounting to 1% of its GMV in Q1 2019. After an investigation that covered between 2017 and 2019, Jumia discovered that the JForce fraud had been occurring for over a year and that it had impacted sales figures for every quarter since the start of 2018. The discovery is similar to accusations made against the company by Citron Research in May after Jumia’s IPO. The fraud disclosure has also led to stern accusations by Sim Shagaya, former CEO of Konga, that Jumia’s management was complicit in the fraud. In this article, I provide a holistic view of Jumia’s Q2 report, including details about the fraud and an understanding of the company’s staggering operating losses from that quarter. |
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| Applications are now open for the MAN Impact Accelerator programme. Organised by Germany’s MAN Truck and Bus and the non-profit Yunus Social Business, the accelerator programme targets startups working in the mobility, transport and logistics industry. To be eligible, interested startups should have developed a prototype and preferably early revenues. Although startups from South Africa Europe and India are the primary targets, other startups from Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania can also apply. Deadline to apply is October 1. Click here to apply. |
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| The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced it will provide loans of around $8,200 to student software developers in order to support entrepreneurs in the country. The move is part of the CBN’s recently developed Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI), a $1.4 million plan that is designed to accelerate job creation. Under the initiative, developers will receive loans for a three year period at a 9 percent interest rate. |
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| Accra-based Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) has announced investments in 11 startups from the 2019 MEST Africa entrepreneurial training programme. The startups include Adi+Bolga, Niqao, Massira and BezoMoney from Ghana; Farmula, Saada and Nadia from Kenya; CoFundie, CoVibes and Zuri from Nigeria; and Kweza from South Africa. Each startup will receive $100,000 in funding. Together, the $1.1 million investment is MEST Africa’s largest round for a graduating class ever. |
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That’s it,
We’ll see you next week
– Abubakar
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