Author: Akin Naphtal

In a bid to revolutionize local digital banking services, Huawei AppGallery has joined forces with top banks in South Africa. This collaboration aims to enhance digital banking and improve the users’ proficiency for Huawei device owners. South African top banks such as Absa Bank, First National Bank, Nedbank, Capitec Bank, Bidvest Bank, Old Mutual Bank, Sasfin Bank and Standard Bank are in collaboration with Huawei Mobile Services to offer a wide range of benefits to Huawei users. The unique strengths and features of the banking apps that are emphasized by the Huawei app gallery expand the range of financial services…

Amazon Web Services has recently launched its first African Skills Center in Cape Town, South Africa, with the aim of eliminating barriers to cloud skill training. This marks the third AWS skill center globally, with the other two located in Arlington, Virginia, and Seattle, Washington in the United States. The new cloud training is part of Amazon’s service to assist 29 million individuals worldwide to enhance their tech skills for free by 2025. Maureen Lonergan, the Vice President of AWS Training and Certification, expressed confidence in the abundance of talent in Cape Town and emphasized that training the workforce can…

The African executives of Google, in a meeting at Abuja on Tuesday, unveiled its plan to empower Nigerian women and youth with digital skills and help the government to create one million digital jobs. The initiative also promises to give the government a grant of 1.2 million to aid the process. During the meeting, Kashim Shettima, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, announced that Nigeria intends to generate digital employment opportunities for its large youth population. Shettima further mentioned that Google’s initiative aligns with the government’s objective of enhancing youth involvement in the digital economy.The government is…

Fintech startup Vegapay, a digital lending and card management platform has raised $1.1 million in a pre-Seed funding round led by Eximius Ventures along with DSP HMK, Capri Global, Upsparks Capital, MGA Ventures, Climber Capital, Arun Venkatachalam (Murugappa Group), Pratekk Agarwaal (General Partner at GrowthCap Ventures) and a host of angel investors. The platform intends to use the funding to develop their technology further to make frontline adoption easier for institutions and non-institutions. “The banks and the fintech players take months to launch new financial products like credit cards and lending offerings. However, we can help them reduce the time…

Mastercard has agreed to purchase a minority stake in the fintech division of MTN Group, Africa’s largest cell phone provider, which it values at $5.2 billion. The company revealed this in a recent statement. According to them, the signing of the formal investment agreements will likely occur very soon as both parties near the end of the regular due diligence process; the investment will be closed subject to usual closing conditions, the announcement read. According to MTN Group president and CEO Ralph Mupita, the deal will be structured as a commercial partnership on payments and remittances employing Mastercard’s technical infrastructure…

The London-based startup 11x.ai has recently announced to the general public its launch, along with a $2 million pre-seed funding round led by Project A Ventures. The company aims to develop and facilitate the creation of AI workers that can perform tasks in areas such as sales development, talent acquisition, and human resources. In the company statement, the startup’s first digital worker is Alice, a sales director representative (SDR). 11x.ai will soon introduce a no-code platform where companies and developers can build their own digital workforce to automate routine tasks. For example, in sales, these tasks may include initial outreach…

GDS, a leading developer and operator of high-performance data centers, celebrated the grand opening of its Nusajaya Tech Park Data Center Campus recently in Johor, Malaysia. At the event, it was attended by YB Senator Tengku Datuk Seri Utama Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry; YB Lee Ting Han, Johor State Investment, Trade and Consumer Affairs Committee Chairman; Mr. William Huang, Chairman and CEO of GDS; Mr. Dan Newman, CFO of GDS; Ms. Jamie Khoo, COO of GDS and other guests to witness this major milestone in GDS’ history. GDS Nusajaya Tech Park Data Center Campus,…

Airtel Africa, one of the continent’s leading telecoms companies, has announced the sale of 666,174 ordinary shares by its CEO, Olusegun Ogunsanya. The deal that was carried out recently at the London Stock Exchange (LSE) involved the sale of 666,174 shares at the rate of £1.37 per share. Following the sale, Ogunsanya gained £757, 440.70 which, according to the telco, will be used to fund a property purchase. It’s worth noting that Ogunsanya still owns 4,325,282 ordinary shares in the telco. Airtel Africa is listed on both the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) and the LSE (LSE). This announcement follows the…

MTN Rwanda has released a report documenting its unaudited financial results for the first half of 2023. The telco’s service revenue increased by 14.7% from the previous year’s haul. Beyond growing its service revenue, the telco also made some major strides in the volume of mobile money subscribers, active data subscribers, and more. As mentioned, its service revenue between H1 2022 and H1 2023 grew from Rwf 105 million to Rwf 120 million. For context, service revenue refers to the profit that MTN generated from its operations or business units through a base transmission station (BTS). The telco also saw…

Angola| Mastercard has entered into a strategic collaboration with Empresa Interbancária de Serviços S.A (EMIS) to introduce a co-branded contactless card incorporating EMV technology. Following the motive behind the initiative, it aims to bolster the digital economy and expedite the process of digital transformation. EMIS, also known as the Interbank Service Company, functions as the financial infrastructure operator for the Angolan Payment System. It holds responsibility for managing the interbank network encompassing ATMs and Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals. Additionally, EMIS serves as the clearing house for direct debit and funds transfer operations within banks, while also functioning as a Mobile Virtual…