Author: Akin Naphtal

-Pesaflow, IHS Cameroon S.A are multiple winners The 11th Africa Digital Economy Awards (ADEA) honoured excellence across the continent’s digital landscape on 19 September 2026 at the Emara Ole-Sereni Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, recognising a total of 36 outstanding winners ,19 organisations and 17 individuals, who are shaping Africa’s digital future. Powered by InstinctWave Group in partnership with Digital Economy Magazine, ADEA returned to Nairobi for the fourth consecutive year as Africa’s premier platform for celebrating innovation, digital transformation and leadership. The awards bring together technology visionaries, corporate executives, policymakers and digital pioneers from across the continent under one roof.…

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is calling for a more measured approach to the development of advanced artificial intelligence, arguing that the industry needs to slow the pace of AI capability growth enough to ensure that safety measures can keep up. In his essay, “We Must Pace the Frontier,” Amodei acknowledges the enormous potential of AI to improve human life. He believes the technology could contribute to major advances in healthcare, economic growth, scientific discovery, democracy and individual empowerment. However, he warns that the same technology could also create serious risks, including loss of control over advanced AI systems, cyberattacks, biological…

Network International has appointed Vladimir Malugin as Managing Director, Acquiring Business for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. In his new role, Malugin will lead the growth of Network International’s acquiring business across the region. His mandate includes strengthening customer relationships, expanding market presence, driving commercial performance and delivering sustainable growth across key acquiring segments. Malugin brings extensive international experience in payments, fintech, commercial strategy, product management and operations. His leadership career includes senior positions at Property Finder, PayU and PayPal, where he successfully led large-scale businesses, commercial transformation initiatives, market expansion strategies and payment operations across multiple…

Etihad Salam Telecom Company (Salam), a Saudi Arabian telecommunications and information technology provider, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dell Technologies to expand their collaboration in cloud infrastructure and Edge AI solutions. The agreement was signed during LEAP 2026 by Eng. Ahmed Al-Anqari, Chief Executive Officer of Salam, and Mohamed Talaat, Vice President for Saudi Arabia, Egypt, North Africa and the Levant at Dell Technologies. The MoU establishes a framework for the two companies to promote advanced cloud infrastructure and Edge AI technologies among enterprise customers across Saudi Arabia. Under the agreement, Salam plans to integrate Dell Technologies’…

Submer, an end-to-end AI infrastructure provider, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Edgecore Networks, a global provider of open networking and AI infrastructure solutions, to explore AI-ready data centre infrastructure opportunities across the Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META). The partnership combines Submer’s expertise in data centre advisory and consultancy, design and construction, IT integration, power infrastructure and advanced thermal management with Edgecore’s portfolio of open, high-performance networking solutions. Edgecore’s offerings include AI and machine learning switches, data centre and optical networking, as well as disaggregated infrastructure designed for high-bandwidth and low-latency workloads. The collaboration comes as growing…

Mastercard has partnered with Busha, a pan-African digital asset exchange, to extend Mastercard Crypto Credential across the continent, aiming to bring greater trust and simplicity to digital asset transfers. With immediate effect, all eligible Busha users in Nigeria can now access a unique Crypto Credential alias, growing the network of verified users and making it simpler to send and receive cryptocurrency across exchanges and wallets participating in the Crypto Credential ecosystem. Through this partnership, Busha becomes one of the first digital asset exchanges in Africa to enable Crypto Credential for its users, underscoring both companies’ shared commitment to making digital…

Digital Parks Africa (DPA), the data centre business associated with the Master Power Technologies Group, is expanding its operations into West Africa with the development of a new carrier-neutral data centre in Lagos, Nigeria. The investment aims to strengthen the digital infrastructure needed to support Nigeria’s rapidly growing connected economy and Africa’s wider digital transformation. Known as Nigeria Data Centre 1 (NDC1), the facility is being developed to serve businesses, financial institutions, banks, cloud providers and connectivity companies that require highly reliable, resilient and flexible infrastructure located close to the markets they serve. The centre is expected to provide a…

The National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr Vincent Olatunji, delivered the keynote address at the 2026 Nigeria eGovernment Summit, focusing on the theme “Mainstreaming Technologies in Nigeria Election Management: The Data Protection Imperative.” Dr Olatunji praised the organisers for maintaining the summit over the years, noting that the 2026 edition represents the 8th edition of the event. He traced Nigeria’s electoral technology journey from traditional manual processes to innovations such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), as well as emerging digital technologies that could…

MTN Nigeria has surpassed the 100-million active subscriber milestone for the first time, following the addition of more than two million active subscriptions in July 2026. According to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the operator closed the month with 100.86 million active subscribers, compared with 98.64 million in June. MTN added 2.22 million subscribers during the month, marking its strongest monthly growth so far in 2026 and increasing its share of Nigeria’s mobile telecommunications market to 51.76%. The milestone comes as Nigeria’s total number of active mobile subscriptions increased from 192.23 million in June to 195.1 million in…

NEC Africa has appointed Phillip Nganga as its Regional Manager for East Africa, placing him in charge of the company’s overall performance and sustainable growth across the region. Nganga brings nearly 15 years of experience with NEC, having joined the organisation in May 2012. His appointment highlights NEC Africa’s commitment to developing local leadership and strengthening its operations as the company enters its next phase of growth across the continent. “East Africa has tremendous potential, and we believe the time is right to take the business to the next level. Our focus will be on expanding our customer base, strengthening…