Author: Staff Writer

Chalkboard Education has emerged the winner of the Accra edition of Seedstars International. The e-learning solutions company beat nine other competitors last night to secure a place on the train to Switzerland. Headed by CEO, Adrien Bouillot, Chalkboard offers plug-and-play mobile learning solutions that work on any device and without an…

Facebook is supporting and sponsoring She Leads Africa, an African enterprise and women’s business-focused movement, to help ensure female entrepreneurs and professionals across the world unlock their full potential. She Leads Africa’s hugely successful bootcamp programme, SheHive, was held in London from August 18th-21st 2016. The four-day event took place at…

Mark and Priscilla have sold Facebook shares worth nearly $95 million for charity and impact investing. Last year, they promised to give away 99% of their Facebook shares to social causes under the Chan Zuckerberg initiative. At the time they made this statement, they were worth $45 billion. They made charity giving…

Beloxxi has raised $80 million by selling a minority stake in its business to private equity firms 8 Miles and Africa Capital Alliance and a German DFI DEG. DEG is providing $10 million while 8 Miles and Africa Capital Alliance are providing the balance. The biscuit manufacturing company intends to use the funds…

The President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, (@POTUS) now has over 10 million followers on Twitter. He set the Guinness World Record for the fastest Twitter account (@POTUS) to reach a million followers and this was done in five hours after the launch of the account in 2015.…

The craze with self driving cars continues with the announcement that Taxi hailing service, Uber and Swedish auto manufacturer, Volvo, will be unleashing autonomous vehicles on the streets of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA this month. According to a Bloomberg report, “Starting later this month, Uber will allow customers in downtown Pittsburgh…

Young fashion accessories designers in Nigeria are in for an exciting and rewarding time as First City Monument Bank (FCMB) rolls out its #FlexxYourCreativity Contest. Up for grabs? A total of N300,000 in prize money as capital to grow business, as well as a chance to showcase one’s accessories at…

Y Combinator has just launched a new video series “How to Build the future”. In this first episode, YC’s Sam Altman speaks with Mark Zuckerberg. Interviews with Bill Gates, Jessica Livingston and Elon Musk are coming soon! All episodes will be posted here: http://www.themacro.com/future/ In the first interview with Mark Zuckerberg,…

Though it was still in beta stage, blab was a good product. It seemed the future was bright but according to the CEO, Shaan Puri, “Blab was great in many ways, but it wasn’t going to be an everyday thing for millions.” Blab was a livestreaming app that competed with Twitter’s…

Shine Technologies has signed a deal to provide network-level ad blocking to the 40 million subscribers on the Econet Wireless network across Africa. The agreement marks the first availability of Shine’s network-level ad control technology in Africa, following a similar agreement with the Three Group in Europe. An analysis of Econet’s network performance…

Randstad has announced that it is acquiring employment site, Monster, for $429 million in an all-cash transaction. Randstad intends to build the world’s most comprehensive portfolio of HR services by leveraging Monster’s multiple distribution channels to bridge two different but complementary parts of the extended recruiting industry. Monster will continue operating…

Twitter has announced the suspension of 235 000 new terrorist related accounts. Earlier this year, it announced that it had suspended more than 125,000 accounts since mid-2015 for violating our longtime prohibition on violent threats and the promotion of terrorism and shared the steps we are taking as a company to combat…

This Friday, Showmax celebrates its first year anniversary. Showmax is Naspers’ answer to Netflix. By its statistics, it has had an impressive and busy year. The South African based Video on demand service has clocked up to 10 million views, which is equivalent to 700 years’ worth of TV shows and…

Facebook celebrated the creativity and excellence of young African creatives at The Loerie Awards for 2016, the premier annual advertising awards in the advertising industry in Africa and the Middle East. The Loeries Creative Week kicked off on the 15th of August and will end on the 21st of August. Facebook…

MEST will be hosting its first event in the city – an interactive session and fireside chat with experienced speakers where they talk about Investing in Tech Startups. Theme of the session is “MEST talks Lagos: Investing in tech startups.” Founded in 2008, MEST is an established incubator and training programme that…

Visa is planning to launch a QR code based mobile payment service, mVisa, in Nigeria in conjunction with some Nigerian banks before the end of the year. Launched in India in August 2015, mVisa enables consumers pay for goods by scanning a QR code on a smart phone or entering…

South African financial technology company, Zoona, has successfully raised $15 million dollars (two hundred million Rand) in a second round of financing. International Finance Corporation (IFC) led this round which includes first round investors Accion and Omidyar Network who reaffirmed their commitment by doubling their respective investments. The Lundin Foundation, a…

Two ex-Jumia Africa managers are set to launch an energy drink, named Kabisa, into the Nigerian market through a Polish firm – Mutalo Group. Kabisa is coming on the heels of a bi-polarized African beverage industry that features low-quality and cheap energy drinks on one side as well as high quality,…

Clearly Buzzfeed must have stumbled onto something with its lol, win, omg, wtf content that has made it a successful media company that there are many wannabes or copycats globally that want to ride on its success. The 80 million people (US alone) that read Buzzfeed cannot be wrong. Here is…

Etisalat Nigeria has announced the calls for entries in the 2016 Etisalat Prize for Innovation. Etisalat Prize for innovation rewards product, services or ideas that promote mobile broadband usage in Nigeria. Prizes are to be awarded in two categories: Most Innovative Product/Service category (prize of (N5,000,000) and Most Innovative Idea category (prize…