Author: Staff Writer

Japan and the African Development Bank recently announced a joint target of $3.5 billion under the Enhanced Private Sector Assistance for Africa initiative (EPSA4), during the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7). Both Japan and the Bank have set a target of $1.75 billion each, from 2020-2022, to…

Global investment firm, Carlyle Group, has acquired a majority stake in South Africa based Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) software vendor, Isometrix, through its $698 million Carlyle Africa (Buyout) Fund. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Madison Park Group served as exclusive financial advisor to IsoMetrix on the transaction and existing…

True to our report in March 2019, Nigerian based logistics company, Kobo360 has officially launched in East Africa, Kenya to be precise. The launch was presided over by Kenya-based Africa Region CEO, Kagure Wamunyu,  in an event attended by business partners, media and other stakeholders. The logistics company which recently raised…

Cairo-based RiseUp has launched a new multi-stage regional startup competition, named “Pitch by the Pyramids” for startups around the Middle East and North Africa Startups participating in the Pitch by the Pyramids program provides  a unique experience and exposure for them. They will receive extensive webinar sessions covering business and…

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey ‘s account was hacked on Friday. This was noticed when it seemed that he was broadcasting racist messages and bomb threats for about 20 minutes. Twitter quickly acknowledged that the account had been hacked https://twitter.com/TwitterComms/status/1167528672523210752 However they said it was now secure. It also added that there…

The Mastercard Foundation has launched a new initiative “Young Africa Works” in Ghana to enable three million young people to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030 The initiative is aligned with the government’s An Agenda for Jobs: Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for All, and Ghana’s commitment to positioning the…

Alphabet’s Google will pay between $150 and $200 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission investigation into YouTube’s alleged violation of a children’s privacy law. This was first reported by Politico and has been corroborated by The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg . It is said that the official settlement will likely be made…

YouTube has launched a kid-friendly website named YouTubekids.com. This may be in reaction to the anticipated hammer from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation. It is rumoured that Alphabet’s Google will pay between $150 and $200 million to settle the Federal Trade Commission investigation into YouTube’s alleged violation of a…

Lenovo has introduced the next generation of Android tablets –  the Lenovo Tab M7 and Lenovo Tab M8. These tablets are the latest in the Lenovo’s mainstream (or M series) of tablets, which offer families a premium look and feel at an affordable price. The M series is a mid-level…

Bolt, formerly known as Taxify, commences operations in its 8th city in Nigeria, Port-harcourt. Previous cities include Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Owerri, Benin City, Calabar and Uyo. According to Uche Okafor, Bolt’s regional manager for West Africa; “After successful launches in seven Nigerian cities, expanding to the cosmopolitan city of Port…

Twitter has restored the account of #BBOG co-founder, Aisha Yesufu after tendering an apology. Aisha’s Twitter account was frozen for some hours thereby making it impossible for her to use her account. Aisha shared a photo of the apology letter from support@twitter.com. See the image below. According to Twitter, Aisha’s…

Apple has sent out invites for possibly the unveiling of the next iPhone scheduled for the 10th of September. The venue for the Apple event is the company’s Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, California. There has been rumours and leaks but all that would be put to rest. It is…

Chinese electronic giant, Xiaomi, has just launched the Redmi Note 8 and Redmi Note 8 Pro. Launched in China today, one of the outstanding features of the phones is actually the 64MP camera for the Redmi Note 8 Pro; making it officially the world’s first smartphone with a 64MP primary sensor.…

World Economic Forum (WEF) has launched a new initiative to help African start-up enterprises grow and compete in international markets. It is called the Africa Growth Platform. According to WEF, the Africa Growth Platform will do this in three ways: firstly, by securing commitments from governments to implement policy reforms aimed at…

Solar energy company, BBOXX, has successfully raised $50 million in a Series D funding round to boost BBOXX’s expansion drive and fuel its mission to use technology to unlock potential and transform millions of lives worldwide The financial milestone includes a substantial investment from Mitsubishi Corporation, a global integrated business enterprise…

US-based Fintech service, Esusu, has announced the closing of a $1.6 million seed round to scale, expand market share, and focus on product development. The seed round was led by Acumen Fund with participation from Sinai Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Katapult Accelerator, Plug and Play Tech Center, Global Good Fund, Temerity Capital…

Google has announced that it is shutting down the job application tracking system, Hire by Google, it launched just two years ago. The company had built “Hire” with Diane Greene, a former Alphabet board member. According to the tech giant, it says it is focusing its resources on other products in…

The Executive Governor of Oyo State, Engr. Oluwaseyi Makinde has unveiled a partnership between Farmcrowdy, Nigeria’s first digital agriculture platform, and the Oyo State government. The official launch event which was held on Monday in Ibadan, Oyo State had all executive members and commissioners of the Oyo State cabinet in…

According to Canalys, Baidu replaced Google in the number 2 position in the smart speaker market in the second quarter of 2019. The Chinese vendor grew 3,700% to reach 4.5 million units in quarter 2 after it re-entered the market with Xiaodu device in Q2 last year. Even though Baidu…

Gokada is back on the streets after a 2-week hiatus with Gokada 2.0 initiative. A couple of days ago, CEO of Gokada, Fahim Saleh said that the ride-hailing company was shutting down operations for two weeks. This was to attend to some operational issues that Fahim experienced while on the…