Author: Akin Naphtal

Tunisian ed-tech startup GoMyCode has raised a US$8 million Series A funding round to drive its expansion plans across Africa and the Middle East. Founded in 2017, GoMyCode started life as a coding school but now offers different types of training programmes for technology and digital jobs. The startup uses a blended model comprising offline and online learning to offer training in web and app development, artificial intelligence, data science, user experience, video game development, and business intelligence. Disrupt Africa reported last year the startup was busy expanding across Africa, Europe and the Middle East, and in furtherance of those…

AirtelTigo is set to reward its customers with over ¢1.0 million in the “To Gu Me So” Reloaded Promotion launched. To Gu Me So Reloaded is a target-based promo designed to reward customers with weekly cash prizes, and this edition seeks to provide equal opportunities for all. The promotion will run from 6th June 2022, through to middle of September 2022 and thousands of customers across the country will be rewarded weekly. Unveiling the promotion, Chief Marketing Officer of AirtelTigo, Atul Narain Singh said, “last year, with the introduction of AirtelTigo “To Gu Me So”, we were able to make…

South African investment app Franc has raised ZAR8 million (US$522,000) in a seed extension round, and announced a B2B offering that enables quick and easy adoption of savings and investment products by partner businesses. Launched in 2017 by Sebastian Patel and Thomas Brennan, who were frustrated by the complexity and high barrier to entry of existing investment offerings, and concerned by the poor rate of investment among South Africans, Franc allow users to make investments via a mobile app. The startup saw 400 per cent growth in 2021, and has now announced its B2B offering – Franc Business. The new…

In a rare acquisition of a US tech company by an African tech company, MFS Africa, Africa’s largest digital payments network, has announced that it has reached an agreement to buy Global Technology Partners (GTP). Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, GTP is the number one processor for prepaid cards in Africa, with over 80 banks – including UBA, Ecobank, BIA, Stanbic, Coris, NSIA and Zenith Bank – using its platform. GTP’s client base covers 34 countries and is fully connected to the Visa, Mastercard, GIM, GIMAC and Verve networks for which it provides the processing. This acquisition enables MFS Africa to…

Tizeti Network Limited, West Africa’s pioneer solar-based internet service provider has announced the appointment of Emmanuel Ikazoboh as its Board Chairman. Emmanuel Ikazoboh is the immediate past Group Chairman of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Chairman of ARM Pensions Managers Limited (Pensions Fund Administrators), and is the International Vice Chairman at International Institute for Sustainable Development, Canada. He is an independent/Non-Executive Director for Nampak Packaging Limited South Africa and Dangote Cement Plc. He was appointed Administrator of The Nigerian Stock Exchange and helped transform the Nigerian Stock Exchange as well as the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS), and was responsible for…

Ericsson and 4G+ network Free recently in Senegal collaborated to showcase 5G technology capacity at the Free Senegal Innovation Xperience (FIX) ceremony held recently. The selected demos include Music Connect, Connected Healthcare, Connected Vehicles and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) for smart homes, primarily focused on the role of 5G in enabling a more intelligent society. According to the companies, the demos have highlighted the role of connectivity and cellular technology in driving digital transformation for consumers and industries across Senegal. “By visualising artists spread across various locations playing together in harmony, the Music Connect demo showed how 5G can provide…

Elon Musk has threatened to walk away from his $44bn acquisition of Twitter, complaining that the social media company has failed to provide sufficient information about spam and fake accounts. Musk has repeatedly criticised Twitter’s claim that less than 5 per cent of its monetisable daily active users are bots, warning last month that his takeover “cannot move forward” unless the platform provides proof. In a letter to Twitter’s chief legal officer that was disclosed in a regulatory filing on Monday, Musk’s lawyers at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom wrote that the Tesla chief believes the company has “refused…

Kenya’s biggest telecommunications operator, Safaricom, has launched a virtual payment card with Visa Inc, offering more than 30 million users of its M-Pesa payments system access to global e-commerce platforms. The launch of the M-Pesa GlobalPay Visa virtual card follows a partnership between the two companies forged in 2020 to develop “products that will support digital payments for M-Pesa customers.” M-Pesa, launched 15 years ago as one of the world’s first mobile phone-based money transfer services, has evolved to account for roughly half of Safaricom’s annual revenue. Through Visa’s digital processing network its users will now get access to more…

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, has promised the new leadership of the West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly (WATRA) of the unflinching support of the Commission towards advancing the socio-economic agenda of the Assembly for the sub-region. Danbatta gave the pledge during a recent courtesy visit of the new executives of WATRA, led by its new Chairman, Sekou Oumar Barry of the Republic of Guinea. Barry came to vist Danbatta in company of the first and second Vice Chairmen of the Assembly, representing Mali and Sierra Leone respectively; as well as the…

Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has revealed that 832 mobile subscribers ported their numbers to the MTN network in April 2022. The subscribers moved from other mobile networks of Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobile. This was done through the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) instituted by the telecoms regulator, which allows customers to change their service providers without changing their number. The data shows data Airtel also received 354 customers from other networks, while 9mobile welcome 131 customers through porting. Globacom also saw 112 customers moved to its network from other operators. But just as the operators gained some new…