The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) has announced the launch of a one-year intensive African Master’s in Machine Intelligence (AMMI) in partnership with Facebook and Google. The masters will begin this September at the AIMS-Rwanda campus in Kigali. “Machine Intelligence (MI) is revolutionizing critical aspects of our lives. It enhances…
Author: AdeO
The new foldable Galaxy X Samsung smartphone will reportedly be released next year to the market, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. The phone — which is codenamed “Winner” internally — will have a 7-inch (18cm) screen and will fold in half like a wallet. The…
US-based software and consulting company Coders4Africa (C4A) has been acquired by Gebeya, an Ethiopian coders marketplace and training startup. The acquisition will enable the later to scale and build its developer talent pool. Launched in 2016, Gebeya, aims to graduate 5,000 students in Ethiopia over the next five years. The…
Over the past few years, awareness of startup accelerator programs like Y-Combinator and 500 Startups among others has skyrocketed. Typically, startup accelerators periodically select a batch of companies, usually in the same early stages of their lifecycle. In return for a small portion of equity, they offer advice, investor connections and mentorship. Programs can…
Start X and Y is an educational accelerator bankrolled by the Ibadan Business School that helps entrepreneurs and would be entrepreneurs get from one point to another faster. Start X&Y requires no fees. We build the enabling environment. You build the company. Together we build the nation. We fast-track a founder’s vision…
South Africa-based ride-sharing startup Jumpin Rides has announced that they raised $US137,000 through various local and international investors. The startup which was founded in August 2016 by Pauline du Paty, Romain Diaz and Antoine Paillusseau aims to provide South African with a new way to commute. Jumpin Rides is a…
Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany announced the opening of the application period for the ‘Merck More Than a Mother’ Media recognition Awards 2018. The applications are invited by media professionals to showcase their work to raise awareness about infertility prevention and male infertility and breaking infertility…
Nigeria Fintech startup, Flutterwave has finalised its expansion to Uganda. According to reports, Flutterwave had a team in Uganda that was carrying out the integration with the local payments service providers (PSPs) which includes telecoms, banks, and others. This was confirmed by Omosalewa Adeyemi – who handles partnerships for Flutterwave…
Kenyan agri-tech startup Tulaa has raised a US$627,000 seed round led by AHL Venture Partners, and also includes investment by Global Partnerships/Eleos Social Venture Fund, Beyond Capital and Rafiki Ventures. The startup will now invest in further expansion in Kenya, and further develop its platform, which uses mobile technology and artificial intelligence to enable farmers…
Sterling Bank’s attempt to shade some Nigerian banks must have been enjoyed by many social media users but certainly not the Central Bank of Nigeria. Nigeria’s apex bank accused Sterling bank of demarketing the banks it poked fun at including GTB, Union Bank, First Bank and Access Bank in a…
Andela, the company building high-performing engineering teams with Africa’s most talented software developers, has announced the launch of a pan-African technology hub in its fourth African market: Kigali, Rwanda. To fuel the expansion, Andela is partnering with the Government of Rwanda through the Rwanda Development Board, an organization responsible for…
Rwandan factoring firm BeneFactors has been named the winner of Seedstars Kigali. This win gives BeneFactor, the opportunity to represent the country at next year’s Seedstars global Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland. BeneFactors was selected ahead of eight other startups that pitched at the event held in the Rwandan capital. The Kigali-based business-to-business financing company…
Samsung has released a new commercial mocking Apple’s iPhone ahead of the launch of 128GB and 256GB editions of the Galaxy S9. Samsung’s marketers appear to figure that the most likely group of iPhone owners to upgrade to a Galaxy S9 instead of an iPhone X are iPhone 6 owners, who…
A few days after the exciting news that Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance, Okonjo Iweala will be joining the board of Twitter, yet another Nigerian, Chimdindu Aneke, has been appointed to head of the Facebook’s Developer and Startup Programs. His new job responsibility is to ensure the growth and success of…
FinTech Hive, a fintech accelerator in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, is gearing up to start its 2018 edition in September, in partnership with Accenture. FinTech Hive has received an overwhelming response of over 300 applications that were created from all around the world – triple…
You live and breathe social media. Your job is focused on it. There are still businesses on the fence about utilizing the medium, and there are still marketers writing proposals to their superiors trying to convince them of the need to start a social media marketing program. According to Social…
Developers are invited to compete locally within one of the seven outlined regions of (i) North America, (ii) Latin America, (iii) Asia Pacific, (iv) India, (v) Sub Saharan Africa, (vi) Middle East/North Africa, and (vii) Europe. Each of the regional winners will continue to the next phase of the Global Challenge.…
Four Nigerian start-ups have made it to the final round of Visa’s Everywhere Initiative in Sub-Sahara Africa. The Visa Everywhere Initiative is a global innovation programme that tasks start-ups with solving future commerce challenges, as well as enhancing their own product offerings by providing visionary solutions for Visa’s network of partners. The initiative…
Former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been named as one of the new board members of the social media giant, Twitter. The rather good announcement was first made by Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey on his handle. https://twitter.com/jack/status/1020055752944177152 Reacting to the news, the seasoned world bank official said:…
Facebook may have rested its internet drone idea but Alphabet Inc, the parent company of search giant Google is boldly moving with its plans to provide internet to developing nations through its Project Loon. According to media reports, Loon would deploy its system of balloons to beam high-speed Internet access…