Author: Akin Naphtal

The Administrator (CEO) of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), Prince Ofosu Sefah, has reiterated that 200 more ICT laboratoriess will be established this year, as part of its Cyber-lab programme. He said this when he inspected selected Cyber laboratories, Community ICT Centres (CICs) and Rural Telephony Sites in the Western Region. The Administrator, together with a Technical Support Team, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Amenfi Central – P.H. Amponteng and Lord Nana Tandoh – Municipal Chief Executive of Amenfi West Municipality, visited newly-constructed Community ICT Centres (CICs), new Ghana Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion Cell Sites…

Ghanaian e-mobility company SolarTaxi has raised funding from Persistent to further scale its offering. Launched by Jorge Appiah in 2018, SolarTaxi is an e-mobility company that designs, locally assembles, and distributes electric two-wheel (e-2Ws) and four-wheel (e-4Ws) vehicles for transportation and delivery services. Notable customers in Ghana include e-commerce companies like Jumia and Bolt, which both use SolarTaxi’s e-2Ws to deliver customer orders around Accra, while the company also has operations in Kumasi, Takoradi and Tamale. SolarTaxi’s electric vehicles are designed for home charging but, as the market grows, the company plans to build and deploy solar charging stations to…

Tunisian fintech startup Paymee has secured a six-figure US dollar round of funding as it looks to accelerate its product development and grow its enterprise offering. Founded in 2020 by Marwen Aamou, Paymee delivers innovative payment technologies that help merchants increase their revenues by accepting digital payments. The startup offers online payment acceptance solutions through cards, while its solution can be easily integrated into any website or mobile application. The startup saw significant growth in 2021 and is planning further expansion in 2022 after raising funding from P1 Ventures, a venture capital firm specialised in early-stage African fintech that has…

MTN Ghana is urging all customers who are yet to register their SIM cards to make use of its dedicated MTN SIM Registration Web Portal to complete their registration ahead of the 31stJuly 2022 deadline. The SIM Registration Web Portal URL is: https://simregistrationportal.mtn.com.gh. The portal can be found on the MTN website. The SIM Registration Web Portal will enable customers to link their Ghana cards to their SIM card(s) before visiting the service center or any authorized agent point for the biometric capture. The portal provides customers with a web version of the USSD process (*404#) for the linking of…

Huawei, a technology company, has announced a competition that will see developers worldwide put their skills to the test with the launch of the Huawei Global App Innovation Contest (Apps UP) 2022. Registrations are now open globally and this year’s theme is, #TogetherWeInnovate, and Apps UP has set aside a significant cash prize pool of over US$1 million to encourage submissions that bring global users a seamless, digital, and innovative experience. In the 2022 edition of the competition, special awards have been introduced for competition regions, including the Best Arabic App in the Middle East & Africa region. With over…

MTN is confident that Safaricom’s Sylvia Mulinge, who the operator recently recruited as CEO of its Uganda operations, will help grow regional business and help it sustain its position as Africa’s largest mobile network operator. During her time at Safaricom, Mulinge was acknowledged for her contribution to the company’s strong market position, based on sales, earnings and market value. She was also instrumental in establishing the company’s enterprise and fixed data silos. Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom’s CEO, commented on Mulinge’s departure: “A champion of digital transformation, Sylvia is a purpose-led and impact-driven business leader. She has lived the Safaricom Purpose of…

Nigeria-based auto-tech company Autochek has announced the acquisition of CoinAfrique, the leading platform for classified adverts in French-speaking Africa, to accelerate penetration of its auto-financing services into Francophone Africa. Autochek aims to build digital solutions that will enhance and enable a seamless and safe automotive commerce experience across Africa. The company uses technology to transform the automotive buying and selling experience for African consumers, by creating a single marketplace for consumers’ automotive needs, from sourcing and financing to after sales support and warranties. Acquisitions have been central to the startup’s speedy expansion strategy. Autochek launched in September 2020 having acquired…

Ghana’s fight against cybercrimes will be ineffective without the collaboration of respective organizations and various sectors of the economy. This is according to the Acting Director General for the Cyber Security Authority, Dr. Albert Antwi Boasiako. Speaking at a workshop to validate the Child Online Protection framework, he explained that various sectors and organizations would have to identify their roles to consolidate the efforts of his outfit to help in cyber security development in Ghana. He maintained that, the overuse of technology and unsupervised access to the internet may cause many negative effects on social skills, mental and physical development…

Vodafone, in collaboration with Vodacom, Vantage Towers and Tomorrow Street, has launched a global competition inviting organisations to submit innovative solutions to the challenge of generating renewable power directly at mobile phone sites. The ‘Renewable Power Challenge’ seeks new or better ways of powering sites in rural or remote areas without access to power grids, or where there are frequent power outages, while avoiding the use of fossil fuels on-site. Organisations looking to apply should register for an account and submit their proposal through the Vodacom-owned platform here: https://renewablepowerchallenge.vodacom.co.za/ Shortlisted companies will have the opportunity to showcase their solution to…

Google Analytics has been banned in several European countries, with Italy being the latest. Since December 2021, four European countries have banned Google Analytics. It started with Austria declaring the service illegal in December 2021. France and Holland quickly followed months later in February 2022. Now Italy has joined the fray. The Italian data protection authority found that a local web publisher’s use of Google Analytics violated General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules. Reasons To understand why these countries are banning Google Analytics, it’s important to understand what kind of data it collects. Every time you visit a website, any…