Author: Paul Adepoju

The Gates foundation and its Grand Challenges partners are now accepting applications for several grant programs including one that will enable merchant acceptance of mobile money payments. Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative to encourage innovative and unconventional global health and development solutions, is now accepting grant proposals for its latest…

Nigeria’s major ecommerce platform Konga today announced it is opening its platform to more merchants. In a newsletter sent to its customers, a copy of which was obtained by Innovation Village, Konga said it will soon be possible for its customers to find whatever they are looking for. “We are…

International payment company PayPal has revealed that First Bank of Nigeria will remain its only partner in the country. Speaking to Innovation Village, Ms. Malvina Goldfeld, Head of Business Development for sub-Saharan Africa at PayPal, said they are not considering additional bank partnerships in Nigeria. “We hope to have a…

Nigeria’s online marketplace Kaymu today revealed its list of top women in technology in Nigeria. The list includes communication technology minister Omobola Johnson, chief executive officer of MainOne Telecoms Funke Opeke and popular blogger Linda Ikeji. Omobola Johnson Dr. Omobola Johnson is a Nigerian technocrat and the pioneer Minister of…

Mobile-app-based transportation network Uber has announced it has recorded a 100-fold demand growth since it began operations in Nigeria’s commercial capital city of Lagos. Speaking to journalists yesterday in Lagos, Ebi Atawodi, General Manager, Uber, also revealed the company has recorded 10-times supply growth since it kicked off its operations…

A call has been made to Nigerian lawmakers to pass the Cybercrime Bill before the expiration of their tenure. The call was made by Paradigm Nigeria Initiative (PIN). In a statement made available to Innovation Village, PIN urged the National Assembly to deliver cybercrime law that does not limit citizens’…

About three weeks from now, one of the anticipated general elections in Africa will be held across Nigeria with an incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan, locking horns with self-proclaimed reformed dictator, Retired General Muhammadu Buhari. The candidates are going from one place to another, locally and internationally, while their social media…

Prayerbox, a platform through which individuals can share their hopes, gratitude and struggles with their friends family and religious community, has announced it now has about 42,000 users. In a chat with Innovation Village, Bambo Oyelaja , founder of the 440.ng-supported startup said users can stay connected to their churches…

Ericsson in its Consumer Lab Report has predicted that African online video consumption would increase by 55% per year until the end of 2019. Speaking on the opening-day of media and analyst briefing at the ongoing 2015 Mobile World Congress holding in Barcelona, Spain, the Chief Executive Officer of Ericsson, Hans…

At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the GSMA just announced that the number of active Mobile Money accounts globally now exceeds 100 million. Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounts for more than half (53%) of the world’s live mobile money services. These are part of the GSMA’s 2014 Mobile Financial Services for…

Nigeria’s and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote has been named the biggest loser in the 2015 Forbes list of billionaires. His fortune dropped to $14.7 billion from $25 billion last year, propelled downward by a weaker Nigerian currency and shrinking demand for cement, his largest asset. However, he still retains…

Livestream has announced the introduction of Broadcaster mini which with the Livestream app make it possible for live streaming direct from HDMI camera to any device in full HD. In a newsletter announcing the brand new product, Livestream said the device was designed to turn any HDMI camera into a…

At Mobile World Congress, MasterCard today announced an agreement with eTranzact International plc, a leading pan-African mobile banking and payment services company, to make international remittance services available to millions of consumers in Nigeria. Under the agreement, citizens will be able to securely receive international remittances into their eTranzact mobile…

As consumers increasingly trade cash to use their cards through connected devices, Samsung is enabling a wider audience to take advantage of digital commerce. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a leading global technology company, has unveiled Samsung Pay, a mobile payment service that will enable MasterCard cardholders to use their Samsung Galaxy S6…

Orange has launched a new breakthrough digital offer across its significant African and Middle Eastern footprint. The Orange Klif digital offer starts from under US$40 (€35), inclusive of a smartphone, data, voice and text bundle, setting a new benchmark in price that will act as a major catalyst for smartphone…

Recently, there has been a lot of media attention and news reports on surveillance cameras being easily invaded by hackers. With the obtained video data and images, some have been uploaded to the internet and are available via web browsing. This is a serious issue, which can cause harm to…

Rocket Internet today announced it is launching a new startup called Everjobs for frontier markets in Asia and Africa. The new venture seeks to digitalize and simplify the job market, beginning with Sri Lanka today and plans are already in place for rapid expansion across Asia and Africa continents. Rocket…

At the Mobile World Congress holding in Barcelona Spain, telecoms company MTN announced it is set to broadcast live TV channels and VOD on mobile as a result of a partnership with SUMMVIEW culminating in the launch of a new service called “MTN TV” accessible on mobile. Through this service,…

TrueCaller, the service that that transforms today’s phonebook with a set of smart features to make it more intelligent and useful, is seeing Africa as a growth opportunity considering the continent’s rapidly growing smartphone penetration rate. The company is also seeking brand ambassadors in Africa, according to Nami Zarringhalam, the…

Millicom yesterday announced that it has joined the GSMA’s cross-ecosystem Pan-African mHealth initiative (PAMI) which is designed to connect people with the mobile industry and health services in eleven countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including the Tigo operations in Ghana, Rwanda and Tanzania. PAMI aims to develop commercially sustainable and scalable…