Author: Akin Naphtal

South African lender and wealth manager Investec has unveiled a new trading app for investors and traders called Clarity, which offers access to local and global markets. According to the bank, “Retail investors and traders looking for a simple and cost-effective platform to grow their portfolios in their own way can now do so with Clarity by Investec”. Through Investec-issued contracts for difference (CFDs), investors can trade or invest in over 600 local and international shares and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). And they have the option of trading with or without margin, at any value. “We are launching Clarity for…

The rising cost of telco tariff and data plans in Nigeria has been a source of concern for many consumers and businesses. The high cost of operating and maintaining telecom infrastructure in Nigeria, especially in rural and remote areas where there is poor power supply, security challenges and multiple taxation. The depreciation of the naira against major foreign currencies, which increases the cost of importing telecom equipment and paying for international bandwidth. The inflationary pressure on the economy, which erodes the purchasing power of consumers and reduces their demand for telecom services. The need to ensure a fair return on…

Ride-hailing giant, Bolt, has announced the appointment of Caroline Wanjihia as the new Regional Director for its African and international markets, entrusting her with the leadership of its ride-hailing operations across Africa, the Middle East, and LATAM markets. Bolt says appointing Wanjihia to her new role is an important part of its ongoing commitment to enhance operational efficiency, ensure sustained growth, and invest in local talent. Wanjihia will oversee current operations in the region and spearhead new strategic initiatives, with a particular focus on expanding the company’s footprint across the continent. Expressing her excitement about the appointment, Wanjihia “I am…

Intense, urgent demand for artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities – and the duelling pressure to reduce energy consumption, costs and greenhouse gas emissions – loom large over the data centre industry heading into 2024. The proliferation of AI (as Vertiv predicted two years ago) along with the infrastructure and sustainability challenges inherent in AI-capable computing can be felt across the industry and throughout the 2024 data centre trends forecast from Vertiv (NYSE: VRT), a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions. “AI and its downstream impact on data centre densities and power demands have become the dominant storylines in…

Turaco Inclusive Limited, Africa’s leading insurtech, has announced the appointment of Toba Obaniyi as its General Manager in Nigeria. He has taken charge of driving business growth and acquiring strategic partnerships. He will lead business growth through strategic partnerships to distribute Turaco’s embedded insurance solution. Toba Obaniyi’s arrival heralds an exciting chapter for the insurtech as it rapidly scales its Nigerian operations. Brief Profile about Toba Obaniyi Toba brings to the role deep expertise with over 10 years of experience in enterprise sales of tech solutions. He has earned widespread recognition as the driving force behind WhoGoHost, Nigeria’s prominent cloud…

The Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency, Kashifu Inuwa, has openly lamented the low-level participation of women entrepreneurs in technology innovation and development. In a recent event, he was quoted and he promised to ensure that no stone is left unturned towards mainstreaming women tech entrepreneurs into the nation’s digital innovation and technology development. During the opening of the Female Tech Founders Training programme at the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, held in Abuja, he was seen to make this remark and thereby encourage more women participation. The Director General, Inuwa, who was represented at the event by…

The importance of 5G to Africa’s business success was underlined this week at the 2023 Africa 5G Summit (run as part of the sixth Southern Africa Mobile Broadband [MBB] VIP Salon). The summit was hosted by Huawei and took place during AfricaCom, the continent’s largest technology conference. It brought together industry leaders, regional government regulators, and representatives from industry organisations to share their 5G development strategies and industry experience. The theme of this year’s summit was “5G Lights Up Africa Together Towards Business Success”. Among the topics discussed were how operators in Southern Africa can continuously build value-added networks for…

Payments infrastructure company Stitch today announced into the market the launch of a new payment method: Pay with crypto – the most comprehensive of its kind available in South Africa. With this method, businesses can allow a growing set of customers that wish to buy goods and services using crypto to do so directly, and get settled in ZAR. Cryptocurrency adoption continues to grow in South Africa. A study from Binance indicates that around 7.7 million South Africans own cryptocurrency today, often purchased using popular exchanges such as Binance and VALR. Globally, interest in using crypto to pay for goods…

Meta’s AI chatbot has finally landed on WhatsApp, offering a range of services from customer support to appointment scheduling. In addition, WhatsApp is introducing a new feature to simplify access to status updates. Meta has been developing its AI model for an extended period. With the AI race heating up, with Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI introducing new features to their AI chatbots and integrating their AI into other services, Meta has finally decided to leverage AI power in its products, including Facebook, Instagram, and even its instant messaging app WhatsApp. During the Meta Connect 2023 event which was held recently,…

With nearly 20 years of experience in the telecom and fintech sectors working across multiple African countries, Patrick Attoungbre has charted himself an enviable career from a logistics manager to heading MTN Fintech Côte d’Ivoire as Chief Executive Officer. At the beginning of November 2023, Patrick Attoungbre took over the helms of affairs at Fintech Côte d’Ivoire a subsidiary of MTN Group that offers digital financial services in the country. Prior to his appointment, he served as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for MTN Côte d’Ivoire for over three years from April 2020 until November 2023. During Patrick’s tenure as Chief…