Author: Paul Adepoju

As Seedstars Academy officially kickstarts operations with selected startups in Lagos, application is set to open today (Monday) for the second cohort of the program. This was revealed by Benjamin Benaim, Founding Partner, Seedstars, during last week’s edition of Innovation Village Chat Series. “For now we will be looking at…

When I started covering the startup ecosystem in Africa, I kept hearing one word over and over again – disruption. An innovation is described as disruptive if it creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established market leaders and alliances.…

South Africans can now instantly compare 26 financial products from 106 financial institutions to be able to save money and to chose the products which best suits their needs. These range from loans (including personal and student loans), cheque accounts and debit cards all the way through to foreign exchange…

Very few Nigerians saw the deals Nigeria entered into with China coming but it is true, Nigeria has signed a currency deal with China allowing the free flow of the Chinese Yuan amongst Nigerian banks. The deal is arguably one of the best or worst policies so far of the…

Next week, the second annual MEF Connects Nigeria will be held as part of Mobile West Africa. Organizers said this year’s edition is supported by Huawei, Bango, Mtech & Content Connect. The evening is expected to connect international & local members and delegates in Nigeria’s exciting and unique market. Mobile…

Michiel Buitelaar, Managing Director of Smile Telecoms has expressed confidence in the future of voice even as more telecoms users in Africa are embracing data. He added that voice is part of the plans of Smile Telecoms. He said: “Voice services will increase our sales and our revenues to a…

ViiV Healthcare, a global specialist HIV company, has announced jointly with its global partners, Vodafone Foundation, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, ELMA Philanthropies and the United States Government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the launch of the Mobilising HIV Identification and Treatment (MHIT) programme in Lesotho.…

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) is investing up to US $140 million in the Gabon Special Economic Zone (GSEZ). The GSEZ was created in 2010 to accelerate Gabon’s economic diversification and development and is a joint venture vehicle between Olam International, a leading agricultural business, and the Republic of Gabon. The…

Interactive Intelligence Group Inc., a global leader of cloud services for customer engagement, communications and collaboration, has launched a new customer engagement cloud service for businesses throughout South Africa. The unique PureCloud Engage architecture, along with its advanced functionality, fast deployment, and simple month to month subscription terms offer contact…

Few years ago, truth be told, I wouldn’t be in the position to sincerely implore Nigerians, Africans or just about anybody to take a case such as that of the Panama Papers seriously owing to the futility of efforts to make fellow citizens to be aware of the existence of…

Orange announced today that it has completed the acquisition of 100% of Cellcom, Liberia’s leading mobile operator(1), through its subsidiary Orange Côte d’Ivoire. Less than three months after signing the agreement with Cellcom Telecommunications Limited for the acquisition of its Liberian subsidiary, Orange has obtained all the official approbations necessary…

Alex Eyengho is the President of the Association of Nollywood Core Producers, ANCOP. He writes in his personal capacity… The most important aspects of nation branding is ensuring consistency in the marketing initiatives and a visible presence in order to keep the brand top-of-the-mind of the targeted audience. I have…

Taxi hailing app Uber today announced it is expanding to Egypt. In a CNN interview monitored by Innovation Village, Uber’s Chief Advisor,David Plouffe says expansion into Egypt could help aid Egypt’s economic recovery. He also revealed that the company plans to invest about $250 million in the Middle East. Watch…

The Government of Ethiopia is offering tax and loan incentives to encourage local pharmaceutical production that will ultimately reduce the cost of drugs, increase job opportunities, improve economic growth and enhance foreign exchange inflow. Ethiopia has previously relied heavily on pharmaceutical imports – or international manufacturers with a footprint in…

A new, free online calculator tool allows you to see how much money you could earn for every tweet you post. If you would like to earn a living from being a social media influencer being paid for posting branded content to your targeted audience, this calculator will tell you…

Orange announces the acquisition of a 75 million-euro equity interest in Africa Internet Group, joining AXA, Goldman Sachs and longstanding investors MTN Group, Millicom and Rocket Internet. Through this investment, which will be accompanied by a series of strategic partnerships between the subsidiaries of the two groups, Orange will help…

MTN today launched its new promotional package featuring World Panel’s SunStream which allows users to stream electricity from the sun directly into their mobile devices. The new bundle was announced at an event in Mthatha with executives from MTN and World Panel Inc. present.  The event was held outside the…

Revamped national telecoms carrier, Ntel is set to roll out commercial operations from April 8, in Lagos and Abuja, and it would be offering 4G LTE services, this was announced by the CEO of teh company Kamar Abass. Abass said all is set for the commercial launch and the company…

One of the high moments this week was the announcement by the FBI that they’ve been able to access the iPhone of one of terrorists that was killed. They believed the device would give some insights into how the terrorist carried out the act of terror that left several people…

Vodacom Business Nigeria, Nigeria’s leading total telecommunications provider has announced the appointment of Lanre Kolade as its Managing Director. From April 1, 2016, Kolade will take the reins at Vodacom Business Nigeria, replacing Guy Clarke who after eight years at the helm returns to South Africa to take up the…