Author: Akin Naphtal

Google has appointed Zimbabwean James Manyika as the company’s first Senior Vice President of Technology and Society. Manyika will report directly to Alphabet’s (Google’s parent company) CEO Sundar Pichai and will be working on the impact of technology on society and the environment. “I’m thrilled that James Manyika will be joining Google’s leadership team,” Pichai said in a statement. “He’s spent decades working at the intersection of technology and society and has advised a number of businesses, academic institutions and governments along the way. Manyika got his first degree—in Electrical Engineering—from the University of Zimbabwe, and then went on to…

PayPassage, a digital transaction solutions provider offering affordable financial products and services is set to officially launch its financial services platform in Nigeria. The platform will offer digital financial solutions to help drive financial inclusion for the unbanked and underbanked in Nigeria. Nigeria is one of the top three unbanked countries in the world, with 40 per cent of its population without bank accounts. Out of the 59 million unbanked adults, 73 per cent do not have the requisite documents to open a tier 3 bank account.  It is this financial landscape that necessitated the birth of PayPassage to provide…

The foremost ICT infrastructure and systems integrator, Inlaks in partnership with Temenos, a banking software company, has deployed the T24 Transact and Payment Hub for the Bank of Kigali in Rwanda in the bank’s quest to accelerate digital transformation in the region. The implementation will support the Bank of Kigali’s operations while enabling the institution to dominate by providing customers with market-leading services through enhanced functionality and digital channels. The transformation will also enable the usage of enhanced digital products for multiple projects brought on by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on banking operations. Inlaks’ CEO, African Operations, Kyari…

The Board of VDT Communications has appointed Steve Elusope as the Group Chief Finance and Strategy Officer. By the appointment, the Board of VDT said it is entrusting Elusope with the dual strategic roles of Group Chief Finance Officer and Group Chief Strategy Officer. Consequently, he is responsible for supervising finance and accounts, business intelligence, business solutions and project monitoring. He works closely with all key stakeholders in the group to ensure the consistent achievement of both financial and non-financial business objectives. The firm stated that Elusope has garnered about 30 years of cognate work experience in banking and finance,…

Dropbox has warned Mac users that they might not be able to open some types of files in a forthcoming update to macOS. Dropbox offers a facility where users cannot fully choose to synchronize all files and folders to their computer. These so-called “online only” files are normally downloaded on demand if a user chooses to open them. The feature is designed to save storage space on people’s computers. However, Dropbox is warning that the forthcoming macOS 12.3 update will partially break support for these online-only files and may result in third-party applications (such as Microsoft Word or Adobe Photoshop)…

The Department of Commerce of the United States of America has warned that manufacturers have seen stocks of their semiconductors (chips) plunge amid the global chip shortage. A survey of more than 150 firms found supplies had fallen from an average of 40 days’ worth in 2019 to just five days in late 2021. Sales of devices soared during the pandemic of COVI-19, leaving semiconductor makers struggling to keep up with demand from the market. The shortage has resulted in huge disruptions for major industries in the States and the World as a whole. Millions of products – cars, washing…

Google has been sued in the United States of America over accusations of deception of people on how to control location tracking. A bipartisan group of attorneys general has sued Google, alleging that the technology giant has used “dark patterns” and deceptive practices to track users’ physical location even when those users have made efforts to block Google from doing so. The legal action refers to a widely reported 2018 revelation turning off one location-tracking setting in its Apps was insufficient to fully disable the feature. Google was accused using dark patterns, marketing techniques that deliberately confuse users. In the reactions…

Egyptian fintech startup MNT-Halan has added a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) feature to its digital ecosystem, which also includes business lending, payments, consumer finance, bill payments, e-commerce, and delivery, backed by Neuron, the company’s proprietary technology. Having begun life as a ride-hailing app for two- and three-wheeler vehicles back in 2018, MNT-Halan has morphed into a super app of sorts, and in the process become Egypt’s largest and fastest-growing lender to the unbanked. The startup’s proprietary fintech ecosystem connects customers, vendors and micro-enterprises through its consumer facing app, merchant app, distributed lending and payment processing software, and payment solutions, as well as…

South African on-demand pay provider Floatpays has secured just under US$4 million in an oversubscribed seed funding round to help it expand across Africa. Founded in 2019 and a participant in the S21 cohort of the Silicon Valley-based Y Combinator accelerator, Floatpays is a technology platform that enables on-demand access to pay, seamless savings functionality and financial education to build employee financial wellness. Having seen 43 per cent growth in its employer base and a 70 per cent increase in users since taking part in Y Combinator, the startup has raised a seed round worth almost US$4 million from investors…

In furtherance of its inorganic expansion drive in South America, IHS Towers has just spent $315 million to acquire São Paulo Cinco Locação de Torres Ltd (SP5), a portfolio company formerly owned by one of Brazil’s largest telecom towers operators —Grupo Torresur. In a press statement , IHS Towers explained that the deal would see it take over ownership of as many as 7, 000 tower assets in Brazil. In addition to this, it would also take ownership of a secondary fibre network that covers about 6.4 million homes. While commenting on the deal, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Sam…