Author: Staff Writer

WeChat Africa intends to spend $3.5 million on tech startups in Africa “to support local entrepreneurs and technology innovations”. According to WeChat Africa Head, Brett Loubser in a statement, “Our fund aims to provide financial support to businesses so that they can effectively get on the WeChat platform.”  “This will include technical…

Imagine leaving a conference and getting to a car lot with a lot of Uber Cars waiting for their passengers, how would you know which one is for you? Well, Uber has thought of this and has come up with a new feature called Uber SPOT. With Uber SPOT, rider…

As the Christmas season draws closer, Konga has made it easier for shoppers to get all their favourite items and everything they could possibly need for the family with the Holiday in the ‘Happy Season Deals.’ By providing a carefully selected range of items across categories of all the possible…

Ferdi Moolman has taken over the reigns at MTN Nigeria as Michael Ikpoki steps down. According to a statement from MTN Group made available to Innovation Village this morning,  “MTN Nigeria’s CEO Michael Ikpoki and the head of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Akinwale Goodluck have tendered their resignations with immediate effect.”…

It started out as a Batman Vs Superman story in the first trailer and we thought “Why should two superheroes be fighting?” But this trailer shows that the two join forces with Wonder Woman to fight a common foe. The foe is Doomsday, the villain from Superman’s past (an ancient…

Rwanda and Uganda are the first East African countries to become members of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), a leading development finance institution for infrastructure projects in Africa. AFC is progressively aligning its country membership with its operational footprint, consistent with a carefully designed membership expansion strategy. Rwanda, which signed the…

Verve International, the leading African payment card brand, has launched a revolutionary mobile app, ‘Verve World’, which enables cardholders to store all their payment options and to carry out everyday transactions without physically using their cards. This innovation was unveiled to stakeholders at an event on Wednesday, 2nd December 2015…

First Bank of Nigeria Plc. is partnering with Eventful, a renowned event management company, to host ‘Fiesta of Flavours’, a world class food and beverage fair scheduled to hold at Harbour Point in Victoria Island Lagos, from  December 4 -6, 2015. The three-day food and beverage fair will provide an…

The Tony Elumelu Foundation announces TEEP 2016, the second annual round of the $100m Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) for emerging African entrepreneurs. In 2015, TEEP empowered 1,000 African entrepreneurs, selected from over 20,000 applicants, with start-up investment, active mentoring, business training, an entrepreneurship boot camp and regional networking across…

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) are the primary job creation engine in Africa, accounting for over 95% of firms and 60%-70% of employment. Yet, SME’s on the continent report access to finance as the biggest obstacle to growth. Malaik, an impact-focused equity crowdfunding portal, test launched today, to connect investors…

The MasterCard Foundation is launching an innovative youth employment initiative in Uganda and Ghana at a meeting in Entebbe, Uganda this week with representatives from financial service providers, relevant government ministries, the private sector, educational institutions and youth-based organizations. The “Youth Forward Initiative” is a partnership between The MasterCard Foundation,…

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla, have pledged to give 99% of their Facebook shares (currently worth $45 billion) as they welcome the birth of their daughter, Maxima Chan Zuckerberg. Mark stated this in his letter to his daughter on his Facebook page. Dear Max, Your mother and…

Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa (BMIA) recently announced the creation of a $1 million fund to build capacity for civil society community media organizations in three countries – Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa – who are working to advance a deeper understanding of business and financial journalism, social justice, innovation and data to…

Fresh from the investment of $100 million in former Alec Oxenford’s startup, Letgo, Naspers is seeking to increase investments in the US. Hitherto, the South African media giant has been investing in emerging economies, consciously staying clear for developed countries. Naspers currently has operations in more than 130 countries and…

Afrique Telecom is progressively deploying Internet solutions over Sub-Saharan Africa in combination with Eutelsat’s satellite capacity. Its “TamTam” service extends access to the Internet in rural areas using Wi-Fi hotspots for collective access. In a new step announced today, “TamTam” will be used to offer free access to French-language Wikipedia content…

Foremost African financial institution, Guaranty Trust Bank plc has reaffirmed its position as a leading provider of e-payment gateway solutions with the recent launch of its Virtual Prepaid MasterCard. The card which is issued instantly via Internet Banking, provides an added comfort for security conscious online shoppers who prefer not…

International advertising agency network, M&C Saatchi, on Friday announced that it has acquired a majority stake in Creative Spark. Not many may know about Creative Spark but their works are well known. Creative Spark is the digital agency behind Ventureburn, Memeburn, Motorburn and Jobsburn. All these brands are under the Burn…

The Kampala based forest advocacy group, Support for Women in Environment and Agriculture – SWAGEN has walked away with the 8th ONE Annual ONE Africa Award . The Award is bestowed upon civil society organisations, non-governmental organisations and other groups based in Africa that have  demonstrated a commitment and success…

Originally coming from the United States, Black Friday has become a phenomenon in a growing number of countries in recent years. Having large discounts on all products, Black Friday e-commerce sales generated a revenue worth of USD 1.5 billion in 2014 (US only), estimated to grow by another 30% in…

According to a recent report on global generosity, Myanmar is the most generous country in the world. This was announced by Charities Aid Foundation in its report on the CAF World Giving Index. The World Giving Index score is based on an average of three measures of giving behaviour -…