Author: Akin Naphtal

In a bid to continue providing affordable and accessible healthcare for its customers in Ivory Coast, Senegal and Cameroon, an Ivorian startup, Susu is being backed with $1 million in pre-seed funding for the the health support in the area of rise in hypertension in Africa. The equity raise saw participation mainly from angel investors, as the company also raised $1.2 million in debt and grant financing from BPI France, the French government’s public investment bank. Bola Bardet founded the company with Laurent Leconte (CTO) and Sandrine Egron (COO) after losing her father to complications from a chronic health condition due to poor management. “My father died…

Paga, emerging African payments and financial services ecosystem, has been licensed to operate a payment gateway in Ethiopia, which is experiencing a digital finance revolution after the official introduction of its first telco-operated mobile money platform, Telebirr last year. Already active in Nigeria where it says it has 19 million users, Paga connects consumers, merchants and sellers under its platform. The company has also just signed a partnership with Ethiopia’s Bank of Abyssinia. “Paga Group is delighted to announce its partnership with the Bank of Abyssinia, and its receipt of regulatory approval from the National Bank of Ethiopia to launch…

MTN will invest over US$1-billion into telecommunication infrastructure in Ghana over the next five years, the company said on Tuesday. It added that it would interconnect with rival operators in the West African nation for roaming and airtime distribution. Interconnection has been a key theme across many African markets and is considered a solution for poorly serviced areas that would benefit from infrastructure sharing and cross-connections of platforms and systems between operators. “Beyond the opening of its systems and digital channels for the distribution of other operators’ airtime, MTN is pleased to announce that it is in advanced stages of…

Ukrainian citizens are depending on cryptocurrency for financial transactions as many of the displaced residents, including Nigerians cannot access their accounts. The United Nations said on Sunday at least 150,000 persons had fled Ukraine following last week’s invasion of the country by Russia, with many losing their accounts and credit cards. In order to survive the financial crisis caused by the war, the refugees and the Ukrainian government are turning to Bitcoin and Ethereum for goods and services. In a tweet on Saturday, the Ukrainian government said: “Stand with the people of Ukraine. Now accepting cryptocurrency donations. Bitcoin, Ethereum and…

Ghanaian logistics startup Boxconn has already launched operations in Nigeria and Botswana, and plans further expansion having already facilitated thousands of deliveries. Founded in January 2021 after the team formed during the MEST Africa programme in Accra, Boxconn is a logistics software platform that allows businesses and individuals to deliver on-demand. It offers a white-label delivery service that allows businesses to promote delivery through their own channels and get access to an on-demand fleet of riders. “We realised that businesses had a need for a logistics software management tool that provided them with just more than on-demand delivery,” said Emmanuel…

MTN Group, the parent company of listed MTN Nigeria, has announced that it has bought a digital land in a South African originated Metaverse called Africarare. This was disclosed via a press release published on the company’s website. According to the press release, MTN now owns 144 plots of virtual land with an overall area of 12x12m. The statement however did not mention how much MTN paid for the plots. Africarare was launched in October 2021, becoming the first African VR metaverse to launch. The platform uses a token, UBU token, as its native token. Speaking on the development, Bernice…

As the weeklong 2022 edition of AfricaNXT, discussants at panel sessions and other participants have acknowledged the positive impact of the Federal Government’s policy and regulatory efforts, through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in fostering increased connectivity. There was a groundswell of opinion that improved connectivity has enhanced individual and corporate activities that are bolstering socio-economic development in Nigeria. In a press release issued by the Nigerian Communiations Commission, discussants particularly identified the critical role that digital connectivity is playing and will continue to play in shaping the future of work and the development of commercial activities in the country.…

LG Electronics (LG) has produced cutting-edge air conditioners that are powered by ingenious inverter technology. LG’s inverter technology is highly developed and well-regarded around the world, and it considerably improves energy efficiency and performance. Rising electricity costs and environmentally conscious consumers are driving the use of energy efficient air conditioners around the world. LG Electronics is one of the companies at the forefront of the next generation of innovative Residential Air Conditioning (RAC). LG has prioritized earth environment preservation, sustainable social advancement, and improved the quality of life of all its stakeholders over the last 20 years with a vision…

The Nigerian Communications Commission has confirmed that MTN Nigeria and Mafab Communications Limited have paid $273.6m each for the Fifth-Generation spectrum licence. The Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Umar Danbatta, officially confirmed the payment status on Thursday, as the deadline set for the two winners of the spectrum auction elapsed. This is according to a press statement issued by the Commission on Thursday, titled ‘3.5GHz Spectrum: MTN, Mafab Pay for Licences’. It read in part, “Provisional winners of the 3.5 Gigahertz spectrum licence, MTN Communications Nigeria Plc and Mafab Communications Limited, have made their full payment of $273.6m each…

South African fintech startup Lipa Payments, which is bringing the “tap to pay” experience to informal sectors with its software solution that enables merchants to accept contactless payments directly from a mobile phone, has raised ZAR10 million (US$660,000) in funding to help it scale. Founded in 2019 by Thando Hlongwane and Roger Bukuru, Lipa Payments aims to revolutionise the way the informal sector trades in goods and services. The startup has developed a payment software solution for banks and fintechs that allows small merchants to accept digital payments using NFC and Bluetooth technology. The startup has now secured a ZAR10…