Author: Akin Naphtal

STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education is a growing focus in Africa. More than ever before, people are recognizing the importance of including STEM-related disciplines in the education curriculum. Many believe the future of STEM education is in collaborations. Collaborations that provide immersive education for interested students while creating channels to increase the interest of students. Collaborations that create an avenue for stakeholders to share resources, and build on each other’s experience and expertise while pooling resources through their individual networks. Collaboration that fosters a harmonious working relationship with the regulator and the regulated for sustainable impact. It is on…

As the Internet Society (ISOC) celebrates its 30th anniversary as a global nonprofit advocating for an open, globally-connected Internet, the organization is calling for accelerated action to further Internet development throughout Africa. During the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) 2022 taking place from in Kigali, Rwanda under the theme “Connecting the unconnected to achieve sustainable development”, Dawit Bekele, Regional Vice President of the Internet Society in Africa, lauded the progress made by stakeholders in expanding access throughout the continent, while encouraging more collaborative efforts to bridge the digital divide. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest growth in global Internet penetration, increasing…

Amazon Web Services has announced its presence in Nigeria with the launch of ‘AWS Outposts’, an infrastructure service that enables users to locally host, run, manage their workload and connect with Amazon’s cloud service offerings. Amazon described the infrastructure as fully-managed and configurable computing and storage racks built with AWS-designed hardware. These it says, allows its customers to run AWS services on-premises, including computing, storage, and databases, while seamlessly connecting to AWS’s broad array of services in the cloud. “Customers in Nigeria who have workloads that require low latency, data processing, or data storage on premises can benefit from AWS…

Verve International, Africa’s payment technology and card business platform has welcomed its first francophone e-commerce and merchant aggregator, CinetPay into the Verve ecosystem. CinetPay, the Ivorian-based FinTech provides online and Point-of-Sale (POS) payment solutions for merchants to process payments from more than 40 different payment operators in West and Central Africa. According to verve, this partnership is expected to further establish the Verve footprint across the region and support merchants to accept Verve cards from customers of issuing banks in 13 African countries. Vincent Ogbunude, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Verve while speaking on the partnership said, “We are…

Minister for Communication and Digitalization Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has stated that the Ministry would not extend the set deadline for the nationwide SIM card registration exercise. She reiterated how all unregistered SIM cards would be deactivated by the end of July this year, and advised mobile phone users yet to register their SIM cards to do so to meet the deadline. The exercise which began on 1st October 2021, was originally scheduled to end on 31st March 2022 but was extended by the sector Ministry to 31st July 2022, due to the issue where over 7.5 million citizens and residents at…

Vodacom Group will retain full ownership of a new subsidiary that will take over its South African tower business. The firm also recorded 5.2% rise in first-quarter revenue. The formation of the telecommunications tower company, which follows similar actions by Vodacom’s rivals, is not yet complete, CEO Shameel Joosub said. South African telecoms firms have either carved out tower businesses or sold them to specialist tower companies, a move also seen globally. By doing so, they have raised money for such purposes as funding fast-growing services, such as fintech. Formation of the tower company, which follows similar actions by Vodacom’s…

There may soon be a common virtual currency used by members of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), if plans by the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) pan out. Chairman of the Board of Directors of BEAC Hervé Ndoba, also CAR’s Minister of Finance and Budget, has called CEMAC’s central bank to “work towards the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)’ for its members – Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Congo and Gabon. Ndoba made the call in Cameroon’s economic capital Douala recently after an extraordinary session of the regional monetary authority. Ndoba…

Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) has been elected into the Nigeria Academy of Engineering (NAE). He was elected into the highest decision making body of the Academy as a result of his outstanding role in the development of engineering profession in Nigeria. The Council oversees the country’s highest professional bodies in science, technology and engineering. The Notice of the election, conveyed by Honorary Secretary of the Academy, Engr. Christy Adelowo indicated that Danbatta and other council members will serve for two years. Danbatta, a professor of telecommunications engineering with several decades of…

Ayear after Nigeria’s Access Bank Plc’s acquisition of African Banking Corporation of Botswana Limited (BancABC) Botswana, the subsidiary has registered a significant increase to its online banking customer base. According to Access Bank Botswana, there has been an increase of over 50% in usage of transactional platforms, and the volume of transactions processed through the system has more than doubled. The Bank attributes the growth to a well-orchestrated digitalisation strategy implemented during the 2021 financial year. Access Bank Botswana Managing Director Kgotso Elvis Bannalotlhe said: “A new board approved strategy was agreed by end of November – focusing on rapid…

The Cameroon Telecommunications Company (CAMTEL) has signed an agreement with the country’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to deploy broadband infrastructure and services. The agreement, signed by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development Celestine Ketcha, will see newly constructed houses connected to the broadband services. Although neither the government nor the telco have divulged details of the duration of the project or costs involved, they said coverage will include Olembe (Yaounde), Banga-Bakoko (Douala) and “other towns that have not yet been connected”. In Olembe, the government is building 10, 000 houses and pinpointed 50,000 constructible plots. According to…