Author: Akin Naphtal

The African Union (AU) has hosted a Technical Workshop to develop its Digital One Health platform, held in Naivasha, Kenya, as part of Africa’s efforts to strengthen health governance and management. Held from February 26th to 28th, 2024, the event was executed under the African Union One Health Data Alliance Africa Project, funded by BMZ and supported by GIZ. The Project falls under the jurisdiction of the Animal Health Unit at AU-IBAR. The workshop saw key stakeholders across Africa meeting to help propel the Digital One Health platform’s development. Participants included members of the AU One Health Technical Working Group,…

The World Bank has partnered with Smart Africa to expand the Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) initiative from a national to a regional focus, as part of the Western Africa Regional Digital Integration Program (WARDIP), supported by a $20 million grant over five years. The initiative aims to advance regional integration of digital markets by empowering policymakers and regulators with the knowledge to harness the potential of green and inclusive digital transformation. Through SADA, a new generation of decision-makers across Africa will be equipped with innovative approaches to policy and regulation, contributing to the establishment of a Single Digital Market…

In its audited 2023 Financial Report released on Wednesday, 28th February, MTN Ghana revealed that it made a profit of GH¢3.98 billion cedis in 2023, while also declaring a dividend of GH¢0.175 per share. Despite a slight dip in the company’s share price on the Ghana Stock Exchange, closing at GH¢1.39, MTN Ghana remained focused on delivering value to its stakeholders. The telco’s financial performance was driven by a 34.6% year-on-year growth in service revenue, fuelled by strong increases in voice, data, and Mobile Money usage. This growth translated into a 39.4% year-on-year increase in profit after tax, reaching GH¢4.0…

Equitel, a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) under Finserve, has rolled out its 5G services in over 370 locations across Kenya after partnering with Airtel Kenya, which acts as the host mobile network operator. The new Equitel 5G service is now accessible in key towns including Mombasa, Nakuru, Nairobi, Athi River, Kisumu, Kakamega, Siaya, Eldoret, and Bungoma, among others. Plans are underway to extend coverage to densely populated areas such as residential neighbourhoods, shopping centres, and central business districts in collaboration with Airtel. To enjoy Equitel’s 5G services, customers must possess a 5G-capable device supported by a 4G LTE SIM…

Nigerian architect Olajumoke Adenowo has joined Flutterwave as an independent non-executive member of its global board of directors, as the company seeks to drive its international expansion strategy. Founded in 2016, Flutterwave has rapidly expanded and now has a presence in about 30 African countries, and has recently gained a foothold in India, offering its remittance services to Asia’s second-biggest economy. Adenowo is Flutterwave’s first independent non-executive board member. Armed with over 35 years experience in architecture, she will help the startup strengthen its pan-African and global positioning, the company revealed on Monday, 26th February. Speaking on the appointment, Flutterwave’s…

Google DeepMind CEO, Demis Hassabis, has announced that Google will be reintroducing its AI-powered image generation tool in the coming weeks, following its suspension last week due to inaccuracies in historical depictions. The decision to pause the tool, which leverages Google’s Gemini AI models, came after users flagged instances of historical images being inaccurately generated. While Google initially offered image generation capabilities through Gemini AI earlier this month, concerns over the accuracy of historical depictions prompted the temporary suspension of the feature. “We have taken the feature offline while we fix that. We are hoping to have that back online…

Chinese technology company, Honor, has launched its latest flagship smartphone, the Magic 6 Pro, featuring an innovative eye-tracking AI function that allows users to remotely control their cars simply by looking at their phone screens. Unveiled on Sunday, 25th February, the cutting-edge feature, already available in China and soon to be integrated commercially overseas, marks a significant step forward in smartphone technology. Previously sold by Huawei Technologies before its acquisition by state-owned Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co in November 2020, Honor has primarily targeted the Chinese market. However, with the global launch of the Magic 6 Pro, the company…

In preparation for the upcoming European Parliament elections scheduled for June, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has announced plans to establish a specialised team to address disinformation and the misuse of generative artificial intelligence (AI). The announcement follows a recent collaboration between Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and 17 other tech companies to combat deceptive AI-generated content aimed at interfering with elections globally. Generative AI, which has seen rapid development in recent years, enables the creation of text, images, and video in mere seconds in response to prompts. However, the technology’s capabilities have raised alarm, with fears that it could be exploited to…

Chinese consumer electronics giant Xiaomi, on Sunday, 25th February, launched its latest AI-enhanced smartphones and wearable gadgets, ahead of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, to be held from 26th to 29th February 2024. The centrepiece of Xiaomi’s announcement was the introduction of the new 14 Series smartphones, featuring cutting-edge AI technology and a focus on photography capabilities. The flagship Xiaomi 14 Ultra, developed in partnership with renowned German camera-maker Leica, boasts a quad-camera setup, while the more compact Xiaomi 14 offers a triple-camera configuration. Both devices integrate large AI models into various applications, enabling features such as real-time…

Apple has announced an upgrade to the cryptographic security of its iMessage platform, introducing PQ3, a post-quantum cryptographic protocol which provides extensive defences against highly sophisticated attacks. In a blog post Apple described PQ3 as the most significant cryptographic security upgrade in iMessage history. The protocol offers compromise-resilient encryption and is designed to protect against potential future threats posed by quantum computers. PQ3 achieves what Apple refers to as “Level 3 security,” providing robust protection for both initial key establishment and ongoing message exchange. PQ3 will gradually roll out for supported iMessage conversations starting with iOS 17.4, iPadOS 17.4, macOS…