Author: Akin Naphtal

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…

The latest Google Pixel Stand is less of a “must-have” accessory if you’re a Pixel phone owner and more of a “nice to have.” For $79, its primary job is fast wireless charging, and it does that well. But unless you’re a Pixel 6 or 6 Pro owner and you’re really sold on one of the stand’s handful of extra features supported by your phone, then you’d be better off saving your money and getting an inexpensive third-party charger. The aptly named Pixel Stand (2nd gen) is Google’s second take on a fast wireless charger built to complement its Pixel phones.…

The National Information Development Agency (NITDA) has said that it was partnering with relevant stakeholders to come up with a code of conduct for social media activities in Nigeria. According to NAN, this was made known by the Director-General of NITDA, Mr Kashifu Inuwa, during an interactive session with journalists on Monday in Abuja, to kick-start this year’s ‘National Protection Week’. Inuwa said the effort was to protect Nigerians from data privacy intrusion, adding that the agency was putting measures in place to impose more sanctions on data privacy violators such as Loan Application platforms breaching its users’ privacy. Inuwa…

PayedIn Technology, a fintech company empowering the offline to online transitioning for organisations, businesses, and entrepreneurs, said it had launched a simple-to-use payment solution in Nigeria. The company said in a statement that in support of the digitalisation of the economy, all organisations, businesses, and entrepreneurs should have access to a secure and easy-to-use electronic payment solution. It said the current payment solutions available in the country were complex and often required complicated hardware, payment intermediaries or complex systems integration. According to the statement, only the top 20 per cent of organisations, businesses and entrepreneurs with the requisite skills, capabilities,…

Mastercard and Network International have collaborated to launch a new digital payment acceptance technology that enables mobile phones to act as payment terminals for 500,000 new merchants in African and Middle Eastern countries. They said in a statement that the new payment solution would run on Network International’s Tap on Phone technology. According that the statement, ‘Tap on Phone’ tech is powered by Mastercard Payment Gateway Services, which gives small and medium-sized businesses the ability to accept payments through a smartphone. The firms said, “Customers will simply tap their card or device to make the payment on the SME merchant’s…

As part of its effort to ensure its customers have easy access to their funds and carry out seamless transactions, Baobab Microfinance Bank has launched a new mobile app. The bank in a statement said the mobile app known as MyBaobab will offer its customers a new banking experience, built on cutting-edge technology, with ease of usage and excellent customer experience. According to the Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer Dr. Kazeem Olarewanju, “our aim is to ensure our customers have access to their funds to carry out transactions while keeping safe at all times. In view of this, customers…