Author: Paul Adepoju

South Africans looking to pay less tax may consider investing in Grotech, a fund of Grovest Venture Capital Company (VCC) where investors are entitled to deduct the full amount of their investment from their taxable income in the tax year ending 28 February 2016. The tax relief is 41% for…

Uber’s strongest competition Lyft has announced it has secured an investment of $500 million from General Motors Co, giving the ride-hailing startup a valuation of $5.5 billion and a major ally in the global battle against Uber Technologies Inc. Bloomberg reported the investment, part of a $1 billion financing round for Lyft,…

Major tech company has launched three new internet of things (IoT) solutions with which it aims to equip communication service providers and utility companies to address services and requirements in the fast-growing IoT market. The first solution is Smart Metering as a Service. According to Ericsson, smart metering as a…

Panasonic has become the latest tech company to open an assembly plant in Nigeria, specifically Lagos. The plant will complement Panasonic’s manufacturing plant in India. Shinichi Wakita, Managing Director of Panasonic, Middle East and Africa, stated that Panasonic is extending the manufacturing of its air conditioners and TV sets to…

Steve Case has invested in Kenya’s BRCK and he is joined by other investors who participated in a latest round of investments for the startup. A total of $3 million was raised during this round from Jean and Steve Case with participation from Jim Sorenson, TED, MKS Alternative Investments, Synergy…

The internet in Africa literally broke when it was announced that Netflix is now available everywhere in African countries including the continent’s powerhouses – Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Kenya. Naturally, with Netflix becoming available in Nigeria, attention is expected to shift to a company that many people love to…

Even though it is still at loggerheads with the telecoms regulator, Nigeria’s largest telecoms company MTN Nigeria has reportedly completed the acquisition of Visafone which is the only surviving CDMA company in the country, according to media report. Daily Trust said the South African company has finally sealed the deal…

500 Startups has announced it has launched 500 Falcons which is a new US$30 million micro-fund focused on Middle East and North Africa region. The aim of this new venture is to help build MENA’s tech ecosystem by investing in promising new companies and founders. 500 Falcons seed stage fund…

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has revealed it is planning to implement a national mobile roaming strategy. With the strategy, NCC said it will enable mobile operators in the country strengthen their operations and compete favourably. The national mobile roaming is the ability of a cellular customer to automatically make…

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), a leading development finance institution for infrastructure projects in Africa, has appointed David Johnson to take up the position of Chief Risk Officer for the Corporation. Previously AFC’s Vice President responsible for Market Risk Management, David Johnson succeeds Roger Ellender, who reached the mandatory retirement age,…

Algeria has become the latest African countries to explore 4G. According to the country’s Minister of Post and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Imane Houda Feraoun, this Thursday, the official call for tenders for the exploitation of fourth-generation wireless telephony (4G) will be announced. He said the Regulatory Authority for…

Currently struggling to get the industry’s highest fine off its neck, Nigeria’s largest telecommunications company MTN will soon be fighting with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over the 700MHz spectrum it got from the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC). According to NCC’s latest newsletter, the commission’s Executive Vice Chairman Professor Umar…

Operators of e-commerce companies have identified costly electricity charges as a deterrent to investment and business development in Nigeria. This is coming as the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, ANED, reveals that less than 40 percent of electricity bills are paid by consumers and as a result higher tariffs are…

One of Nigeria’s major financial institutions, the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has launched an extensively upgraded version of its U-Mobile mobile banking platform. According to the bank, the new platform is more advanced and user-friendly than the previous one. Divisional Head, Digital Banking, UBA, Dr. Yinka Adedeji, added the…

The Nigerian government has revealed plans to digitize its civil service as a way of curbing the act of its officials that often alter vital documents. This plan was revealed by Winifred Oyo-Ita, Nigeria’s acting Head of the Civil Service (HOS) of the Federation. She said this while on a…

Emmanuel Okoegwale, Principal Associate, MobileMoneyAfrica writes on disrupting Nigeria’s $21 billion remittance market The opportunity now exist to disrupt the remittance business in Nigeria as the Central Bank of Nigeria intends to license non-bank remittance providers in Nigeria and also enable out-bound remittances in a market that is known for…

Edusko.com, major online solution that connects parents and students with good schools within and outside Africa has constituted an advisory board to serve its users better. In a statement issued to the press, Edusko’s founder, Jide Ayegbusi said it became necessary to constitute an advisory board and partner with foreign…

Major tech company Huawei as at the 2015 Global Mobile Broadband Forum it jointly hosted with the GSMA unveiled a five-year mobile broadband blueprint. In his presentation, Ken Hu, Huawei’s Deputy Chairman and Rotating CEO, said from now until 2020, Huawei has three main targets: supporting 6.7 billion mobile broadband…

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has asked the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos to dismiss or decline hearing the suit filed before it by MTN Nigeria challenging the industry record NGN1.04 trillion fine. MTN’s legal team of seven Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) had approached a Federal High Court…

Safaricom has made it possible for M-PESA users to send money to Uganda following a partnership between Safaricom and MTN. According to Safaricom’s Director of Financial Services Betty Mwangi, the move will for individuals and business customers to enjoy convenient, affordable and reliable mobile money services across the borders. “This…