Author: Akin Naphtal

Google’s plan to limit data tracking on its Chrome browser has been extended to cover apps on its Android-based smartphones. Its Privacy Sandbox project aims to curb the amount of user data that advertisers can gather. The news will be a blow to firms like Meta, which rely on putting their code on apps to track consumer behaviour. Meta said this month that Apple’s changes would cost it $10bn (£7.3bn) this year. Google’s Android operating system is used by about 85% of smartphone owners worldwide. No detail Third-party cookies, which use people’s browsing history to target adverts, will be phased…

Powered by 25,000 motorcycle taxis at the start of 2020, SafeBoda was at its peak, ferrying thousands of pillion passengers in cities across Uganda and Nigeria. And then the COVID pandemic hit, throwing everything into a spin. Containment measures like work from home directives meant a slump in business, which was worsened by the lockdowns, curfews and bans on public transport, bringing the motorcycle taxi business to an unprecedented lull. While this pause badly affected SafeBoda, it fueled the startup’s change of strategy from a single service provider to an integrated multi-service and digital payment technology platform. The startup, which was co-founded…

Facebook is the subject of two new Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) complaints filed by Whistle-blower Aid, the non-profit that represents Facebook whistle-blower Frances Haugen. The complaints accuse Facebook, now Meta, of misleading investors about its efforts to tackle misinformation about climate change and COVID-19. The first complaint, obtained alleges the presence of readily available climate change misinformation on Facebook, making Facebook’s claims that it’s fighting climate denial fall flat. It also contains internal documents detailing employees’ own experiences with climate-related falsehoods on the platform. As noted one employee reports searching for “climate change” in the Watch tab and then…

The Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), Alhaji Alhassan Yakubu Tali, has commended the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia for his digitalisation drive in the country, which has brought about substantial ease of doing business. He added that the introduction of various initiatives such as the Ghana Card, the mobile money interoperability, ghana.gov portal and the digital address systems have enhanced banking transactions and improved customer confidence in the sector. Speaking in an interview, Mr Yakubu-Tali stated that, the initiatives under the government’s digitisation agenda spearheaded by the Vice President would in the long-term positively streamline…

For Africa economy to experience holistic and speedy development, Africa must embrace digital technology. According to Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, although digitalisation had contributed significantly to the economic fortunes of Nigeria and the African economy, there was still room for more growth especially as digital technology offered the most effective way for Africa to fast-track development.  He was speaking at the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Group Chairman’s Forum 2022, held at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, where he was hosted to dinner by the bank’s Group Chairman, Tony O. Elumelu. The UBA Group Chairman’s forum is an annual interactive and…

By: Samuel Saint-Ayisi The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has indicated that it has a target of achieving GH¢80.3 million revenue mobilisation in the year 2022 through digitalisation in the country. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the GRA 2022 Management Retreat at the Volta Serene Hotel in Ho, the Commissioner-General of GRA, Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, stated that the Authority has put together strategies and several innovative ideas awaiting implementation to expand the country’s revenue mobilization system. Owusu-Amoah, pointed out that the digitization drive for Domestic Tax and Customs Divisions will relentlessly continue and that there would be a new phase where…

The autonomous driving space might be seeing the marriage of two titans. Reported on Thursday, Volkswagen is in talks with Huawei to acquire the latter’s nascent autonomous driving unit for billions of euros. The potential merger will be a powerful one. Huawei’s autonomous unit sits under the telecom equipment and smartphone behemoth’s “smart vehicle solution” business unit, which started only in 2019. The founding of the smart car BU spurred much speculation over whether Huawei would develop its own cars, though the firm has repeatedly denied any manufacturing plans and said it instead wants to be the “Bosch of China”, or a…

Twitter is to expand its Safety Mode feature, which lets users temporarily block accounts that send harmful or abusive tweets. The system will flag accounts using hateful remarks, or those bombarding people with uninvited comments, and block them for seven days. Half of the platform’s users in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland will now have access. And they can also now use a companion feature called Proactive Safety Mode. This will proactively identify potentially harmful replies and prompt people to consider enabling the mode. The firm said it had added this based on feedback from some…

In Africa and the Middle East, most companies in the freight industry still use old-fashioned methods such as spreadsheets, phone calls and emails to manage their shipments. They are electronic yet manual processes that make their work very inefficient. While incumbents have pioneered various enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to digitize these processes, companies would still get four to five different software platforms to complete multiple tasks. Ideally, stakeholders in this industry — from manufacturers and distributors to retailers and logistics providers — require a single software that connects them with their entire shipping ecosystem, therefore cutting time and cost. Freterium,…

A Nigerian start-up company, Earnipay, has raised $4 million in seed financing led by early-stage venture capital firm Canaan. Thare are other participating investors including XYZ Ventures, Village Global, Musha Ventures, Voltron Capital, Ventures Platform and Paystack CEO Shola Akinlade. Earnipay, which has been in beta since September 2021 and only launched last month, plans to offer its on-demand salary solution to 200,000 employees by the end of 2022. Most of Africa’s workforce is paid monthly but live paycheck to paycheck. Unlike more developed countries like the U.S., where weekly or bi-weekly salaries can take care of this lifestyle, low monthly wages — which…