Author: Akin Naphtal

Yellow Card Financial, the fastest growing cryptocurrency company on the continent, celebrates exceeding 1 million customers in only three years.  The pioneering pan-African company reached 1 million customers in March and shows no signs of slowing down. Since launching in Nigeria in 2019, Yellow Card has dedicated its efforts to providing financial inclusion and freedom for all Africans. The company expanded into four new African territories in the last year alone, increasing its total country presence to 16. John Colson, Chief Marketing Officer at Yellow Card, says this achievement no doubt strengthens the company’s brand on the continent and trust…

Leading provider of carrier-neutral data centre services, Medallion Data Centres, announced the appointment of an award-winning financial expert, Dr. Oluseyi Olanrewaju as its new Chief Financial Officer. An astute, diligent, value-driven finance professional, with over 20 years progressive experience from global multi-billion-dollar companies, Olarewaju brings onboard Medallion Data Centres resourceful experience with proven track record of success. Prior to his appointment, Oluseyi was once the Executive Director Finance, Board member, and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Vodacom Business Africa (Nigeria). He is currently a member, Governing Council of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria He has held various senior…

The Ghana-based PEG Africa, one of the largest providers of distributed energy in West Africa, has been acquired by Bboxx in a deal that cements the latter’s position as the leading super platform for essential products and services in Africa. PEG is a solar energy leader in West Africa and has one of the broadest footprints in the region with operations in four countries, close to 100 service centres and over 500 employees. Bboxx, meanwhile, has to date provided more than 2.5 million people with access to clean energy and other products. Following the acquisition of PEG, Bboxx will have…

Egyptian ed-tech startup Emonovo, formerly known as MARJ3, has raised a bridge round of funding as it refocuses its efforts and aims to reach more students. Founded by Abdo Samy, Sami Al-Ahmad and Ahmed Elgebaly in July 2016, Emonovo began life as MARJ3, a comprehensive database for educational opportunities worldwide for Arab youth. Within a year, it obtained pre-seed funding from Flat6Labs’ FAC Egypt Fund, and in 2020 it obtained new investment from US-based investor Expert Dojo. Earlier this year, the startup decided to support students throughout their educational journey, shifting from scholarships to the university-student matching arena, rebranding as…

Zai, the global financial technology company delivering embedded finance orchestration solutions, has announced a partnership with TerraPay, a leading global payments infrastructure company. This partnership enhances both companies’ ability to scale their offerings and deliver real-time, transparent cross-border payments globally. Zai supports businesses across a wide range of industries internationally – from fintechs to property technology companies – in simplifying, streamlining, and scaling complex payment workflows. Its sister brand, CurrencyFair, is a cross-border currency exchange platform offering competitive rates, fast, reliable transfers, and excellent customer service. This partnership bolsters both Zai and CurrencyFair’s product suite, with better coverage across the…

Mesh Payments, the finance automation platform for companies, has raised $60 million in a Series C funding round led by Alpha Wave. Tiger Global, TLV Partners, Entreé Capital, and Meron Capital joined the round, which brings Mesh’s total funding to $123 million. Mesh promises to make legacy corporate cards obsolete with its insight-driven automation platform that gives finance managers more granular control over their spend. The platform helps finance teams automate, control, and optimise their corporate spend — from travel and expense to SaaS subscriptions, and offers the industry’s only numberless Visa physical card that syncs with virtual cards. Mesh…

Liberia’s National Elections Commission (NEC) said it will deploy a biometric-based voter identification system for use during the country’s 2023 Presidential and General Elections. Stakeholders, including the African Youth Peer Review Committee (AYPRC), have lobbied the regulator to introduce the system to help prevent any form of manipulation of results. NEC chairperson Davidetta Browne Lansanah said the electoral commission wants to avoid any post-election conflict over data and registration, as has happened in the past. Lansanah said the biometric system would secure voters’ roll and the integrity of the election process, including voter registration, voter verification and the transmission of…

Nigeria’s government has suspended plans to impose a 5% excise duty on telecommunications services. According to officials while the excise duty is covered by the Finance Act 2020, authorities decided to suspend it following engagement with stakeholders. However, the government has since established a committee – chaired by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Isa Ali Pantami – to immediately review the policy. Pantami, who is also chairman of the Presidential Council on Digital Economy and e-Governance, said he opposed the excise duty because it is a threat to the digital economy, with the telecommunications industry already over-taxed. There…

Nigerian fintech startup, NowNow Digital Systems, has closed a $13 million seed round to launch new products Nigerian fintech startup, NowNow Digital Systems, has closed a $13 million seed round to scale and expand its service offerings across Africa. NeoVision Ventures led the round. Several other VCs and angels, including DLF Family Office and Shadi Abdulhadi, participated. It plans to use the funds to expand its platform, team, and marketing. It also intends to launch new products to complement its existing consumer banking, agency banking, and merchant payment solutions. Sahir Berry, CEO, and his co-founder, Mahesh Nair, initially founded the…

The City of Markham is working with IBM Canada to launch the Elections Markham Virtual Assistant, powered by IBM Watson Assistant, just in time for the 2022 Markham Municipal Election. The AI virtual assistant is designed to simplify the voting process, making it easier for voters to get information about the upcoming municipal election. The virtual assistant offers 24-hour support for voters looking for credible, timely election information, and has the ability to answer questions at any time or place. For example, if voters are wondering how to vote online, need help registering to vote, or want to find out…