TechCabal Daily – MTN’s makeover

QUICK FIRE 🔥 WITH AMEL SAIDANE

Amel Saidane is an entrepreneur, ecosystem builder and digital transformation expert. 

She is president of TunisianStartups, an association giving a voice to Tunisian startups. Amel is also the co-founder of BetaCube, a venture builder in fintech and mobility solutions, and Digital2Value, an SME digital transformation platform. She is a board member for the Digital Centre of Excellence of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the Tunisia steering committee member for Digital Arabia Network, a platform supporting the digital transformation in the Arab world.

Explain your job to a five-year-old

My sons are a bit older, but they’re always asking me this question. First, I tell them people can have many jobs, and that I personally am creating my own job. I think this relieves the pressure young people feel about needing to choose single career paths.

I also tell them that I am helping people build factories that create stuff. 

What’s something you wish you knew earlier in your life or career?

Oh, there are so many things. One of them is knowing how cool entrepreneurship is. I grew up in the white-collar generation and the entrepreneurship or startup path was not an option. It’s enviable that the new generation gets this option, and the access to all the information they need to develop the competencies needed.

What’s the most promising thing about tech in Africa? 

It’s the people. 

It’s what pushes me to develop in the startup ecosystem because every time I develop something new, I find these amazing people who are positive, believers in their own countries, and champions of innovation. It’s inspiring. If you have the right people, everything else is possible. 

On the continent, we have the capacity to adapt. There’s the survivor mindset that helps us to leverage challenges and turn them into business opportunities.

What’s one misconception people have about the tech ecosystem in North Africa?

I think it’s that people think the ecosystem here speaks only French or Arabic. So we often see narratives that tout how much language can be a barrier to collaborating with North Africa. 

People often think that North Africa is so different from sub-Saharan Africa but it’s not. We may have different challenges but we have equally challenging environments. We all need to connect more and learn from each other because at the root level, we’re all the same. 

What singular achievement are you most proud of?

I’m actually very proud of taking a step towards working in the startup ecosystem. I spent the first few years of my career working for multinational companies so moving from that comfort zone to a career that’s often unpredictable and financially unstable is something I’m proud of. 

Then I’m also proud of deciding to stay in my country and contribute to the economy. 

What’s something you love doing that you’re not great at? And what’s something you don’t love doing but are great at?

I actually love good food but I’m not so good at making it. 

And I’m great at working through the day, but I don’t necessarily enjoy it. I’m a whiz when it comes to working hard and long, but I would prefer to take it slow and enjoy life. 

MTN MIGRATES FROM TELECOMS TO TECH

Remember the saying “You can be anything you want to be if you put your mind to it”?

Well, MTN is taking it very seriously this year. 

What’s happening?

A full-on rebrand. 

According to Nompilo Morafo, MTN Group chief sustainability and corporate affairs officer, the company is pressing a refresh button that starts with the rollout of a new brand look from February 27. 

Why?

It’s in the motto, MTN aims to be everywhere you go, including digital platforms. 

The new-look branding is part of the group’s “Ambition 2025” strategy, which is aimed at creating “leading digital platforms for Africa’s progress”. The new look is “aligned to our evolution from a telecommunications company to a technology company underpinned by one simple and consistent yet striking brand,” Morafo said.

MTN’s expansion drive to become a fully-fledged technology services company also means that it’s on a hiring drive to hire 150 digital experts in South Africa.

This rebrand will help shift public perception of the MTN brand and also influence its market valuation. It currently offers a range of services such as short-form video content (MTN Shortz), music streaming (Music Plus), social media service (MTN Ayoba), mobile money services, voice and data services.

THEPEER LAUNCHES A NEW PRODUCT

Thepeer, a Nigerian startup that builds the infrastructure for businesses to share data with one another, has launched a new product—Thepeer Checkout—to make online payments easy for shoppers.

Backstory:  Backed by pan-African fintech giant Flutterwave, Thepeer is a company with a mission to enable business-to-business transfers for its customers through its API infrastructure. 

The startup came about after its founders had challenges moving value around their various apps, figured others may have this challenge, and decided to build a solution.

What’s the new product?

Checkout is like the point-of-sale (POS) device of the web, the point where customers pay for a product or service when completing a purchase on an online store.

Though usually the end of the customer’s journey on the website, it’s a huge part of the shopping experience and arguably the most important. As a business, you don’t want your customer dropping off due to a bad checkout experience.

For shoppers, Thepeer’s new solution offers a simple checkout experience online. With it, they can easily pay for products and services on several online businesses powered by Thepeer.

It’s also available for businesses through an API, Thepeer Checkout is simple to integrate and easy to use for websites.

TC INSIGHTS: FUNDING TRACKER

This week, Nigerian fintech giant Flutterwave raised a $250 million Series D round, making it Africa’s most valuable startup at a valuation of over $3 billion.

The round was led by B Capital Group, and includes Alta Park Capital, Whale Rock Capital, and Lux Capital, as well as existing investors such as Glynn Capital, Avenir Growth, Tiger Global, Green Visor Capital, and Salesforce Ventures. 

Here are the other deals for the week:

• Nigerian fintech CrowdForce, raised a $3.6 million pre-Series A funding round. The equity+debt round was led by Aruwa Capital Management with participation from HAVAÍC and AAIC. 

• Duplo, another Nigerian fintech, raised a $1.3 million pre-seed round led by early-stage pan-African VC firm Oui Capital. MyAsia VC, Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola, & Mono CEO Abdul Hassan also participated.

• Nigerian healthtech startup Remedial Health raised $1M in pre-seed funding. This was led by Global Ventures and Ventures Platform, with participation from Ingressive Capital, Voltron Capital, and angel investment from Olugbenga Agboola, Victor Asemota, Opeyemi Awoyemi’s Angel Syndicate Fund, and other investors. 

• South African API fintech startup Stitch raised $21 million in a Series A round which was led by The Spruce House Partnership, with participation from PayPal Ventures, TrueLayer, firstminute capital, The Raba Partnership, and others, including the founders of Chipper Cash, Quovo and Unit.

• Freterium, a Morocco-based logistics startup closed a $4 million seed round led by Partech, with Y Combinator, Flexport, CDG Invest, Swiss Founders Fund, Outlierz Ventures, and business angels from the United States (US), Europe, Asia, and Africa also participating.

• Egyptian browser-based shopping platform Wasla raised $9 million in funding from Contact Financial Holding.

• Egyptian prop-tech startup Nawy raised $5 million in seed funding from the Sawiris family office to help it expand across the region. 

• Egyptian fintech MoneyHash closed a $3 million pre-seed round led by UAE-based venture capital firm COTU Ventures, with the participation of MENA fintech fund VentureSouq and European fund VentureFriends. Other participating funds include Nuwa Capital, The Continent Venture Partners, First Check Africa, Fox Ventures, Kepple Africa Ventures and LoftyInc Capital Management. 

• Earnipay, a fintech that provides flexible and on-demand salary access to income earners, closed a seed round of $4 million. The round was led by Canaan, with participation from XYZ Ventures, Village Global, Musha Ventures, Ventures Platform, Voltron Capital, and Paystack CEO Shola Akinlade. 

That’s it for this week! 

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more updates. 

P.S. We’re at the Data>Guess conference happening on Sunday, Feb 20. Join us by signing up here.

EVENT: BUILDING FROM GROUND UP

Curious about what it takes to make a co-founder relationship work? Or maybe you’ve always wondered what goes into finding the ‘right’ co-founder and how it impacts a startup’s success.

If this sounds like you, join us today at 11 AM (WAT) on #BuildingFromGroundUp.

This morning, we’ll be learning from Tito Ovia, Co-founder and Head of Public Sector Growth at Helium Health. Tito will be sharing important tips for founders and aspiring founders who are thinking of taking on co-founders, as well as useful lessons from her experience with building Helium Health.

The event is open to experienced and aspiring entrepreneurs as well as everyone else who is playing in the African technology industry.

Register now to attend.

The #BuildingFromGroundUp series is powered by the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub with TechCabal as an implementing partner.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

• TechCabal – Junior Newsletter Writer, Senior Editor – Africa (Remote)

• uLesson – Business Development Representative – Abuja, Nigeria

• Binance – Business Development Manager, Growth Marketer – Africa (Remote)

• Future Africa – Strategy Associate, Market Research Analyst – Lagos, Nigeria 

• M-KOPA – Commercial Product Manager, Marketing Manager  – Nairobi, Kenya

There are more job opportunities here. If you’ve got any job listings, send them in to TC’s Job Board. 

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