Ayodeji Balogun is the CEO AFEX Commodities Exchange, Nigeria’s first private commodities exchange. In this interview, Balogun talks about how his startup is helping Nigerians profit from the commodities market. Nigeria was recently said to be in a recession, with the Minister of Finance stating that the country will come…
Author: AdeO
Founder Institute (FI), the world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator, today announces Pacer Ventures as ‘Investor in Residence’ for the Founder Institute’s African Accelerator program. As part of the program, all startups that graduate the Founder Institute in Africa will be reviewed by Pacer Ventures for potential investment in their seed…
The fourth phase of the MTN ICT & Business Skills Training, implemented by the MTN Foundation alongside its partners – Google, Cisco and Oracle – was wrapped up neatly with a virtual closing ceremony on December 11, 2020. The training which was held virtually for four weeks brought together about…
The debate about whether 5G is hazardous to humans reared its ugly head months ago. On social media, conspiracy theorists peddled rumours about the imminent dangers of fifth-generation wireless technology. These dangers according to them include creating deadly radiation and being the source of the COVID-19 pandemic. These conspirators were…
The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), Africa’s leading philanthropy committed to empowering young African entrepreneurs, has announced a partnership with the European Union to identify, train, mentor, and fund 2,500 young African women entrepreneurs in 2021. The partnership will disburse €20 million in financial and technical support for women-owned businesses, across…
Mastercard and Visa have disclosed that they won’t be processing payments for Pornhub anymore, Reuters reported. The two payments giants cited reports of the numerous videos posted on the site of sexual assault of minors. Mastercard said it would permanently end the use of its cards on the sex video site after the report came…
Disney has announced that Iwaju, a science fiction animation will premiere on its Disney+ streaming platform in 2022. Iwaju was developed by Kugali Media, an entertainment company that focuses on telling stories inspired by African Culture using comic books, art and augmented reality. It was founded by three friends (Tolu Olowofoyeku,…
Visa, the world leader in digital payments, has partnered with Access Bank Plc to introduce a Business Debit Card targeted at SMEs in Nigeria. This will create efficiency and transparency in SMEs’ expense management by preventing mismanagement, associated with handling cash. Designed to improve SMEs, the business card comes with…
Africa Fintech Foundry (AFF), Africa’s leading digital innovation hub, is set to host the first virtual edition of its FinTech innovation Roundtable on December 11, 2020. Themed ‘Let’s Talk Tech Resilience 2021’, the event will feature experts in venture capital, technology, innovation and tech startups across the globe. The objective…
The Lagos State Health Management Agency (LASHMA), has partnered with FirstBank to utilize its over 13,000 Firstmonie Agents as payment channels for the Lagos State Health Scheme (LSHS). This will ensure that residents at the grassroots have access to affordable, effective, and quality healthcare. The General Manager, Lagos State Health…
Yellow Card, a Nigerian crypto startup has announced that it processed over $165 million in volume during the first eleven months of this year. The figure represents a growth of more than 1,840 percent over the number of remittances processed in the last six months of 2019. Launched in June…
The United States Consulate General Lagos in collaboration with Global Air Drone Academy (GADA), has announced a call for applications for the Nigerian Drone Business Competition. The drone bootcamp scheduled to hold from January 18-22, 2021, seeks to nurture creativity and hone entrepreneurial skills among Nigeria-based early-stage youth technology entrepreneurs.…
A 90-year-old woman has become the first person to be given a COVID-19 vaccine as part of the mass vaccination programme being rolled out across the UK. Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, said it was the “best early birthday present”. She was given the injection at 06:31 GMT…
Gionee has been charged by a Chinese court for intentionally installing malware on a huge number of its smartphones between December 2018 and October 2019. According to the China Judgment Document Network, the malware installed by the company was found to be infecting over 20 million smartphones with a Trojan Horse…
WorldRemit, a leading digital cross-border payments business has announced that its customers in Nigeria can now receive remittances in foreign currency (USD) through its cash pick up providers. Following the announcement of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), WorldRemit quickly adapted to the new requirements making it the first digital…
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has announced the 10 startups it would sponsor to GITEX 2020 which has already kicked off in Dubai. The startups cut represents Nigeria’s 6 geo-political zones name south south, south east, south west, north east, north west and north central. Here are the…
CredPal, a Nigerian fintech startup that offers consumer credit has raised $1.5million in a recent funding round as it launches its credit cards. The investors include Y Combinator, a startup accelerator that provides seed funding to early-stage startups which CredPal was accepted into in 2019, GreenHouse Capital, a fintech investment holding company,…
Sherpa Ventures has announced that it has launched a US$1 million debut fund for pre-seed tech startups in Africa. Based between Singapore, Kenya, and the US, Sherpa Ventures works with a community of investors to help founders strengthen and scale their startups. It does this by injecting capital, sharing local…
Co-creation Hub (CcHUB), the leading technology innovation centre in Africa has launched the CcHUB Syndicate, an investment vehicle empowering investment groups or firms, High Net Worth Individuals (HNI) all over the world to co-invest (for as little as $5000) in the most innovative companies across Sub-Saharan Africa along with CcHUB. The Syndicate…
The local winners of the Seedstars World Competition (SSW) 2020 have been announced with 25 startups from Africa included in the batch. From over 5,000 applicants, 94 tech startups from emerging markets were selected to advance to the regional stage of the competition. The local winners are set to represent their respective…