This Week: Amazon in Africa

Editor’s Notes

Week 24, 2022
Read time: 5 minutes

Hi.

This week, the African tech ecosystem was saddened by the death of Tefo Mohapi, the founder and publisher of iAfrikan.

Right until his death, Tefo dedicated his life to spotlighting the triumphs of tech and business in Africa. He will be greatly missed.

In honour of his work, we’re publishing tributes to Tefo on TechCabal next week. If you’d like to contribute, please send your tribute to team@techcabal.com.

Kelechi Njoku, Senior Editor, TechCabal.

Editor’s Picks

	MFS Africa doubles its funding This week, MFS Africa broke the internet again when it extended its Series C round by $100 million, bringing the total to $200 million. Read it on TechCabal
	NITDA to regulate social media in Nigeria Months after the ban on Twitter, Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) released its draft of a Code of Practice for social media platforms. With the code, the Nigerian government wants social media platforms to pay tax, delete social media posts within 24 hours, and reveal user information. Read it on TechCabal
	CASF makes its first Nigerian investment Egypt’s premier network of angel investors announced its first investment in a Nigerian company this week. The investment of an undisclosed amount was made in Nigerian fintech company CredPal through the Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund (CASF). Read it on TechCabal
	Kenya arrests student hackers laundering money through bitcoin A gang of Kenyan students have been hacking foreigners’ email credit cards through email phishing and using the stolen money to buy bitcoin. Read about it on TechCabal
	Global Startup Awards makes its African debut The Global Startup Awards is holding its first Africa Summit in Cape Town, South Africa. The awards will celebrate and support impact-oriented innovation in all 54 African countries. It will also seek to increase the role of corporate venture capital in Africa’s ecosystems. Find out more in TechCabal’s Funding Tracker

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	Uber partners with South Africa’s police force After one driver was brutally murdered, and another was badly beaten, Uber has partnered with the South African police to help make its platform safer for its drivers. Read it on IT News Africa
	Kenya launches a $34 million forensic crime lab Kenya is accelerating its crime-fighting capabilities. The country has launched a $34.1 million (Ksh 4 billion) forensic laboratory at the Directorate of Crime Investigation (DCI) headquarters, Nairobi. TechMoran has the full details
	Lagos plans to domesticate Nigeria’s Startup Bill The Nigerian Parliament is dragging its feet behind enacting the Nigeria Startup Bill (NSB) and Lagos is tired of waiting. This week, the Nigerian silicon valley announced its plans to enact the Nigeria Startup Bill (NSB) for state-wide use. Read it on Nairametrics
	Meta wants its Kenyan case thrown out of Court Remember we told you that Facebook is being sued in Kenya by a former employee over claims of exploitation and union-busting. Now, the tech giant says that Kenyan courts don’t have the authority to hear and judge the case so it should be dropped. Well, do they? TechCrunch has the answers.
	Amazon is on a hiring drive in Nigeria Amazon has been recruiting salespeople and engineers in Lagos. Although Prime Video streaming service and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are used in Nigeria, the company does not yet have a physical presence in the country. Do these hirings mean that Amazon will be expanding to Lagos soon? Find out on Rest of World

How many words can you find?

This week, Microsoft shut down Internet Explorer after 27 years of operations. Here’s our own tribute to the browser. How many words can you create from “EXPLORER” ?