Author: Akin Naphtal

Accenture and Palantir Technologies have joined forces in a consortium that successfully secured a substantial contract from NHS England. The newly announced $415m agreement assigns the consortium the responsibility of implementing a data exchange system across multiple NHS locations over the next five years. Palantir will implement the Federated Data Platform (FDP), aimed at enhancing interoperability among NHS trusts and Integrated Care Systems (ICSs). General practitioner national data will be excluded from this initiative. The platform will concentrate on various essential functions, that include, among others, improving population health management, enhancing efficiency in supply chain processes and facilitating vaccination scheduling.…

The CEO of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr. Vincent Olatunji, has warned about the dangers digital lending companies, known as loan sharks, pose to borrowers and the financial system. He made this remark at the 22nd Annual Seminar on Banking and Allied Matters for Judges, organised by The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria in collaboration with the National Judicial Institute. During a presentation on “NDPA 2023 and its Impact on Loan Sharks in Nigeria”, Dr. Olatunji highlighted the challenges posed by digital lending companies, which have become a global trend. He revealed that these companies often exploit…

MTN Ghana, has revealed new tariffs for calls, SMS, data and other services, effective Tuesday, 28th November 2023, saying it was prompted by NCA regulatory requirements, after being declared a Dominant/Significant Market Power (SMP) in 2020. Besides the NCA regulations, MTN reached out to its customers days before the increments, alerting them that prices would be increased due to operational charges. The new tariffs affect MTN’s fixed and mobile broadband bundles, as well as its voice and SMS offerings. On data bundles, MTN’s 4.3-gigabyte Turbonet fixed bundle now sells for GH₵ 43, while a 91-gigabyte bundle has been adjusted to…

Global IT services giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has joined forces with Amazon Web Services to launch an AI practice aimed at empowering businesses to fully leverage both AI and generative AI services for enhanced outcomes across their value chain. This collaboration, named TCS’ AWS generative AI practice, is designed to assist enterprises in swiftly identifying and scaling tailored solutions to meet their unique business requirements. By utilising AWS services, particularly Amazon Bedrock, TCS consultants will guide clients in exploring impactful use-cases, fostering collaborative experimentation, and co-innovating generative AI-powered solutions, the company said. The hub for this co-innovation is TCS…

Kenyan agric-tech firm, Twiga Foods, which facilitates connections between farmers and food vendors, has successfully secured an undisclosed funding amount as part of a broader business refinancing initiative. The new funding was obtained from notable investors, including Creadev, Juven, TLcom Capital Partners, and DOB Equity. All four investors had previously participated in Twiga’s 2021 $50 million Series C funding round. This development comes just weeks after the company faced a KES 40 million (USD 261,878.75) debt collection lawsuit from Incentro Africa, a cloud services vendor. Twiga’s CEO, Peter Njonjo, recently addressed the recent challenges, in a now-deleted post on Medium,…

The Group Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc, Ebenezer Onyeagwu, has announced the bank’s intent to expand operations into France, during the Chartered Institute of Bankers annual dinner at Eko Hotels in Lagos. With customer deposits totalling ₦13.38 trillion, Zenith Bank is among Nigeria’s largest financial institutions. The expansion into France follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the French government, initiating the process of obtaining a banking licence for Zenith to commence operations in the European country. While Zenith’s CEO provided limited details on the timeline for regulatory approvals and the establishment of the France subsidiary, this move…

The Bank of Ghana has disclosed that the total mobile money transactions in the first 10 months of 2023 reached a record ¢1.527 trillion cedis, an increase of 80.7% compared with the same period in 2022. October 2023 recorded the highest mobile money transaction value of ¢179.2 billion, surpassing the previous record of ¢169.6 billion in July 2023. The figures from the Central Bank show that the value of mobile money transactions grew steadily from ¢130.1 billion in January 2023 to ¢134.0 billion in February 2023, and then to ¢147.5 billion in March 2023. The value dropped slightly to ¢138.8…

Kenyan Prime Bank has entered into a partnership agreement with Egyptian card-issuing company, MDP to roll out an all-new multi-currency prepaid card. The new card has a tap-and-go contactless capability as well as a chip and PIN security feature that enables customers to, manage, spend and send their money in different currencies. This partnership came in line with the growing demand among consumers to transfer safe & cost-effective cross-border payment services. The Prime Prepaid Multicurrency Card is available in Kenya Shillings, US Dollar, GB Pounds, Euros and Indian Rupees. Speaking on the launch, Prime Bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Rajeev Pant…

Siris, a leading private equity firm focused on investing and driving value creation in technology companies, has announced a definitive agreement to acquire BearCom, a leading North American solutions provider of wireless communications and security technologies, from Bertram Capital, a middle market private equity firm headquartered in Foster City, California. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1981, BearCom has been trusted for decades by customers across North America to provide land mobile radio systems that support critical business and security processes. BearCom has more than 1,000 employees, including 350+ in its service workforce across the United States…

MPost, the Kenyan tech startup that transforms mobile numbers into virtual addresses is moving its headquarters from Nairobi to Rwanda effective November 2023. The Kenyan Tech pioneer says this strategic move reveals a significant shift in its operational landscape and aligns with the favourable business environment that Rwanda offers to tech startups. Founded in 2016 by Abdulaziz Omar and Twahir Ahmed, the startup’s platform enables the conversion of mobile numbers into official virtual addresses, which allows notifications to be sent to clients whenever they get mail through their postal addresses. It currently operates in Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi, and has…