Author: Akin Naphtal

Visa is now accepting applications for start-ups to participate in the first cohort of the Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator program. The program is focused on startups operating in Africa and will run over 12 weeks twice a year with up to 20 startups per cohort.Startups up to Series A stage are encouraged to apply through the Visa website for a chance to gain unparalleled expertise, valuable industry connections, cutting-edge technology, and potential investment funding. Applications will close on August 25 th and the first cohort will be announced in September. READ ALSO: Exness expands its Fintech Scholarships program to KenyaIn line…

Safaricom, a leading telecom company in Kenya, has unveiled plans to launch its own satellite Internet service in the country, directly competing with SpaceX’s Starlink offering. The telecom giant will collaborate with AST SpaceMobile, a US-based competitor of Starlink, to provide the service. The primary objective of Safaricom’s satellite Internet service is to enhance its broadband offerings, including Wi-Fi, cellular networks, and fibre optic cables. By leveraging AST SpaceMobile’s satellite technology, Safaricom aims to improve connectivity in remote areas and deliver affordable broadband access to rural communities. AST SpaceMobile is developing a unique network that employs a constellation of satellites…

IDT Corporation, a global fintech company, announced the expansion of its BOSS Money app into Francophone Africa – Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, and Democratic Republic of Congo. The BOSS Money app now enables app users to send, receive, carry, and exchange money in multiple local currencies across Francophone Africa. The app also enables direct receipt of BOSS Money remittances within minutes from friends and family in the US. “We are excited to expand our BOSS Money services and bring our transformative fintech solutions to Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, and Democratic Republic of Congo” said Nat Robinson, BOSS Money Africa, CEO. “We’ve…

Exness, a multi-asset broker is pleased to announce it is extending its popular Fintech Scholarships program to Kenya. The scheme will be in partnership with the United States International University (USIU), one of the most prestigious educational institutions in Kenya. Exness Fintech Scholarships aim to support outstanding university students in a STEM field. The program in Kenya is open to third and fourth year USIU undergraduates in Data Science, Analytics, and Software Engineering or students who have accepted an offer for the MSc in Information Technology course starting in September 2023. The scholarship will cover the full amount for tuition…

Leading global hospitality and property technology company GuestReady has officially launched in Saudi Arabia with the opening of its Riyadh office. This expansion means that GuestReady now offers short-term rental property services in more than 63 cities worldwide, with Riyadh being its second office in the Middle East after Dubai. The decision to expand to Saudi Arabia was driven by the country’s thriving real estate sector and the rapidly growing travel and tourism industry. With domestic tourism already strong in the kingdom and international travel set to play a larger role due to Vision 2030, GuestReady sees significant opportunities to…

Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF), a leading bank in Saudi Arabia, has successfully modernized its domestic and international real-time payments processing using Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) software suite, TCS BaNCS for Payments. The transformation aims to simplify and digitize BSF’s IT systems for deposits, lending and payments, enabling the bank to position itself as a modern and customer-focused institution in the region. TCS BaNCS is a comprehensive banking software suite developed by TCS specifically for retail banks. It offers a wide range of applications to help banks effectively manage their core banking operations. The suite includes modules for various banking functions…

ServiceNow, the American digital workflow company, has announced the launch of its Innovation Centre in Hyderabad, India. The new digital incubation hub aims to assist Indian enterprises in modeling, testing and demonstrating business strategies in areas such as generative artificial intelligence, hyperautomation and low-code apps. By establishing the Innovation Centre in Hyderabad, ServiceNow aims to transform the way Indian enterprises build digital businesses and deliver more efficient work processes. The location also allows customers to directly engage with ServiceNow’s engineers at the company’s largest development center outside the United States. This facilitates the integration of emerging technologies tailored to meet…

du, the leading telecommunications services provider in the UAE, has entered into a teaming agreement with Alliance Networks to offer high-capacity connectivity to potential clients within the region. Through this partnership, du and Alliance Networks, known for their regional network and commercial partnerships, aim to explore collaboration opportunities and deliver exceptional connectivity solutions to customers in the GCC and MENA regions. READ ALSO: Nokia Partners with TSSC and Kaushalya to Establish 5G Centre of Excellence in Gujarat Adel Al Daylami, CEO of Alliance Networks, expressed his enthusiasm about the strategic alliance, highlighting the combination of their regional expertise and network…

Jordan’s Ministry of Interior has announced the launch of a comprehensive range of electronic visa and residency permit services for foreign visitors and residents. Starting from July 23, all paper-based transactions related to these services will no longer be accepted by any official entity or portal, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra. The newly introduced e-services can be accessed through the ministry’s dedicated online platform. These services will cover various visa and permit processes, including the issuance and renewal of permanent and temporary visas for purposes such as visit, transit, work, study and medical treatment. Applicants will also be…

Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, has introduced a new tool called CM3leon, which offers text-to-image and image-to-text generation capabilities. CM3leon achieves impressive performance in text-to-image generation despite being trained on significantly less computing power compared to previous transformer-based methods, according to Meta’s blog post. The architecture of CM3leon is based on a decoder-only transformer, similar to other generative AI models like GPT-3, GPT-4, ChatGPT and LaMDa. However, what sets CM3leon apart is its unique ability to input and generate both text and images, as claimed by Meta. READ ALSO: Jordan Launches Electronic Visa and Residency Permit Services for…