Author: Akin Naphtal

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) has marked a major milestone in Kenya, with traffic increasing twentyfold across LINX Nairobi and LINX Mombasa, and a combined peak of over 330 Gbps. It follows the first LINX Connect Kenya member network event in Nairobi last week. The event brought together local Internet Service Providers (ISPs), data centre partners, and industry stakeholders to celebrate the growth and success of the LINX interconnection ecosystem in the region. Since entering the Kenyan market in November 2023, with the launch of its Nairobi Internet Exchange Point (IXP), LINX has built a thriving and dynamic interconnection community…

By the Provost, 02 Academy Nigeria I have spent years working closely with young people, brilliant, ambitious, full of promise. Yet, I continue to see a pattern that should concern every educator and industry leader: potential without preparation. But today, that gap is no longer just about curriculum versus industry. It is about education versus acceleration. While our institutions are still evolving at a steady pace, technologies like Artificial Intelligence are evolving exponentially. And that changes everything. The question is no longer whether students are ready for the workforce. The question is: are they ready to compete with and collaborate…

Vodacom M-Pesa Tanzania has partnered with global payments giant PayPal, enabling customers to transfer funds between their M-Pesa wallets and PayPal accounts directly through the M-Pesa Super App,a major boost for Tanzania’s digital economy The new integration marks a significant milestone in M-Pesa’s global payments expansion, bridging Tanzania’s dominant mobile money platform with one of the world’s most widely used digital payment systems. For the first time, Tanzanian freelancers, content creators, developers, entrepreneurs, and gig economy workers can deposit funds into their PayPal wallets and withdraw earnings from PayPal straight back into their M-Pesa accounts with speed, security, and convenience.…

Moniepoint Inc, Nigeria’s leading all-in-one financial ecosystem platform, has announced a major N3 billion investment to build three state-of-the-art Innovation Hubs at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), and Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) over the next three years. The ambitious initiative, one of the largest private-sector investments in Nigerian higher education in recent years, aims to bridge the gap between academia and industry by equipping students with cutting-edge skills in software engineering, data science, artificial intelligence, robotics, product development, design, and entrepreneurship. The hubs will serve as permanent centres for hands-on, cohort-based learning, mentorship, and real-world project…

Paystack, one of Africa’s leading fintech companies, has launched a major redesign of its merchant Dashboard-the first complete overhaul in nearly a decade, introducing an intelligent AI-native Command Centre designed to deliver instant, data-driven answers to business questions. The new Dashboard transforms how thousands of African businesses interact with their payment data. Instead of navigating complex menus, merchants can now ask questions in plain, natural language, such as “What happened with this transaction?” or “Why is revenue down this week?”, and receive accurate, contextual responses in the form of text, tables, or charts, all grounded in their own Paystack data.…

Kasi Cloud Datacenters has officially flagged off its Lekki campus, commissioning West Africa’s first hyperscale-ready, AI-capable, and carrier-neutral data centre platform. The milestone marks the transition of the Kasi LOS1 facility from construction to operational readiness, providing Nigerian enterprises, financial institutions, and government agencies with a world-class sovereign cloud and AI infrastructure option for the first time. Located on approximately four hectares in the Maiyegun area of Lekki, adjacent to six major subsea cable landing stations including Equiano and 2Africa, the Kasi campus is designed to scale up to 100MW of critical IT capacity. The first phase, LOS1, has been…

 IMBIL Telecom  has recorded a major milestone in Nigeria’s telecommunications industry following its partnership with Airtel Nigeria, successfully onboarding five Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) onto its platform.  The development marks a significant step in the ongoing evolution of Nigeria’s telecom landscape, with several additional operators currently in advanced stages of technical and commercial integration and expected to commence operations in the coming months. The company said the achievement reinforces its growing role as a key enabler of innovation, competition, and market expansion within the Nigerian telecom sector. ALSO READ: MTN BACKS YOUTH INNOVATION WITH N45M “GATHERING ON 100” INITIATIVE   Speaking…

Rack Centre, West Africa’s premier AI-ready data centre provider, has launched the Rack Centre Academy, a strategic initiative aimed at addressing the critical shortage of skilled data centre professionals in the region. The announcement was made at the ongoing IOT West Africa, Africa’s leading digital infrastructure event. The Academy is a comprehensive, fully sponsored training programme developed in partnership with Schneider Electric, IBTC, the African Data Centres Association (ADCA), and EPI. According to recent research by the Africa Data Centres Association, 61.3% of companies in the region still rely on fragmented in-house training, highlighting the urgent need for structured talent…

MTN Nigeria has reaffirmed its commitment to investing in Nigeria’s youth ecosystem, backing a youth-led creative and innovation platform, “The Gathering on 100,” with over N45 million to support emerging ideas and startups. The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola, disclosed this on Sunday night at the National Stadium Surulere during the youth-focused initiative. He said the funding reflects the company’s long-term vision of enabling young Nigerians to build and scale innovative enterprises. Toriola described “The Gathering on 100” as a youth-driven movement designed to bring young people together for 100 hours of creativity, collaboration, and self-expression, noting that it captures the…

Cisco has announced its intention to acquire Astrix Security Ltd., a leading innovator in Non-Human Identity (NHI) security, to strengthen its capabilities in securing the rapidly growing ecosystem of AI agents. The move comes as organisations worldwide accelerate the adoption of agentic AI — autonomous AI systems capable of making decisions and taking actions at machine speed. While these AI agents promise unprecedented productivity, they also introduce a new and rapidly expanding attack surface that traditional security models are struggling to address. ALSO READ: BAYOBAB NAMES WANITA RAMSUBAK AS GM FOR PLANNING AND INTEGRATION   “AI agents represent an entirely new class of coworker,” said Peter Bailey…