Author: Akin Naphtal

MTN Nigeria has pledged its commitment to accelerating Africa’s digital economy through various digitalization strategies, including the mPulse Spelling Bee Competition which is open to primary and secondary school students between the ages of 9 -15 years. The mPulse Spelling Bee Competition is Nigeria’s first digital spelling bee competition, and it has operated a digital model since its launch as part of the company’s effort to promote education and digital literacy among the younger population. During the competition, participants are logged into the MTN mPulse website where they virtually familiarize themselves with facilitators and fellow participants and take rounds to…

Cameroonian startup Mungenow has launched a guesthouse-booking platform aimed at helping travellers to and across Cameroon’s major cities – and eventually the rest of Africa – to find verified and affordable places to stay, no matter their budget. Live now with listings from Buea, Limbe, Douala, Yaounde and Kribi, Mungenow aims to connect travellers with affordable and reliable accommodation, and allows them to use a variety of payment options. A key – yet possibly not scalable – feature is that the startup claims to verify all these guesthouses itself in order to guarantee quality. Co-founder and CTO George Enow said…

Kenyan startup Turaco, an insurtech platform driving mass market insurance adoption, has announced the close of a US$10 million Series A equity funding round to help it double down on expansion via strategic partnerships. Founded in 2019, Turaco is a distributor, broker, and key customer interface between the underwriter and the end consumer. Its B2B and B2B2C business model sees it form partnerships with top tech-enabled companies with a large pool of customers or staff in emerging markets, including some of the continent’s most trusted brands such as Sun King, One Acre Fund, Tugende, M-KOPA and VisionFund. Through its active…

Nigerian startup SafeSenda has launched an application that simplifies the management, exchange, conversion, spend and settlement of cryptocurrency into naira bank accounts. Launched by Nkechi Iyke-Ukaegbu and Ikechukwu Ukaegbu earlier this year, the SafeSenda app simplifies the process of managing and converting crypto assets via an easy-to-use interface. Ukaegbu said the startup had been inspired by the lack of a safe and simple process for crypto-to-naira exchange and settlement to local bank accounts in Nigeria. “Due to a hostile regulatory environment in Nigeria, most of the transactions in the surging crypto trading and exchange market are done via P2P platforms.…

InstinctWave, an ISO-certified Africa’s premium B2B event management specialist is proud to announce the participation of one of the largest independent owners, operators, and developers of shared communications infrastructure in the world, HIS Towers as a silver sponsor of the 7th Africa Digital Economy Summit and Awards (ADESA), which will take place on Friday, 21st October 2022 in Accra, Ghana. Representing one of the world’s largest independent owners, operators and developers of shared communications infrastructure in the Africa value chain, IHS Towers as a Silver sponsor of this year’s event will be critical in driving discussions around the role of…

Leading information, communication and technology publication, TechBerg is set to unveil the Top 25 Tech Personalities who are at the forefront of digitalization in Nigeria at the sixth Tech Innovation Awards (TIA) on Saturday, September 17th in Lagos. The Tech Innovation Award (TIA) is an annual award powered by InstinctWave, publishers of Techberg magazine in partnership with the Africa Digital Economy Forum (ADEF) to celebrate excellent and innovative individuals and companies who are championing the digitization of the Nigerian economy with innovative products and services while also keeping the technology industry attractive. The Tech Innovations Awards will host innovative tech…

Nigerian blockchain payments startup Bitmama has closed out its US$2 million pre-seed funding round, which it will use to expand its operations. Launched in 2019, Bitmama provides a secured blockchain infrastructure that allows users across Africa to transact Bitcoin, Ethereum, Celo and other cryptocurrencies. Simultaneously, its payment solution Changera enables cross-border payment and remittance for businesses and individuals in Africa and globally. The startup, which currently operates in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, closed a US$350,000 pre-seed funding round in October of last year, and has now raised an additional US$1.65 million to bring its total round size to US$2 million.…

Safaricom has expanded its network coverage in Ethiopia, with a recent large-scale customer pilot in Bahir Dar and Adama cities. The two cities are the fourth and fifth the telco is carrying out a pilot test in after Dire Dawa, Harar and recently in Haramaya in Oromia region. The customer pilots in Bahir Dar and Adama cities is part of Safaricom’s city-by-city regional network roll-out as it intends to switch its network and services in 25 cities in Ethiopia by April 2023 even as it gears toward the national launch in October. Safaricom Ethiopia intends to achieve this by working…

Avanti Communications (“Avanti”), the leading provider of high throughput satellite capacity across EMEA, today announced a new 5-year partnership with Turkish communications satellite operator, Türksat Uydu Haberleşme Kablo TV ve İşletme A.Ş. Avanti and Turksat already have a strong working relationship dating back several years. This latest agreement is set to deliver extensive, continuous coverage across Africa and the Middle East to Avanti and Turksat customers in regions where terrestrial infrastructure is limited. The businesses will combine the capacity and coverage of Avanti’s HYLAS 4 and HYLAS 2 satellites with Turksat’s newly launched Turksat-5B satellite to provide customers with access…

Tech focused magazine, TechBerg, has unveiled Olatomiwa Williams, the Country Manager of Microsoft – Nigeria & Ghana, as its Tech personality of the week. An award-winning personality with over 20 years’ experience in Information Technology solution sales, consulting, channel and people management. Olatomiwa is currently the country manager of Microsoft in Nigeria & Ghana. She joined Microsoft in 2010 and has held several positions such as Partner Technology Manager, Dynamics Partner Sales Executive and Account Technology Strategist. Prior to her appointment as the country manager, she was the Director of Microsoft Cloud and Digital transformation Solutions Middle East and Africa…