Author: Akin Naphtal

French development financier Proparco has sealed a major new investment in Nairobi-based e-mobility pioneer BasiGo, supercharging the start-up’s mission to replace diesel buses with locally assembled electric ones across East Africa and beyond. The funding will fuel BasiGo’s ambitious “Road to 1000” target, expanding local assembly lines, rolling out more charging stations, and deepening its Pay-As-You-Drive model that already saves public transport operators up to 40% in annual running costs. Since launching in 2021, BasiGo has deployed more than 100 electric buses in Kenya and Rwanda, clocking over 1.5 million clean kilometres and carrying more than 9 million passengers. Each…

LOOP DFS, the fast-rising lifestyle digital banking platform backed by NCBA Group, has named Bryan Kariuki as its new Chief Product Officer, tasking him with driving the next wave of product innovation and accelerating growth across consumer, merchant, and platform ecosystems. Kariuki, a seasoned fintech and digital transformation leader, brings a proven track record of scaling high-impact financial solutions for mass-market Africa. He joins LOOP DFS from SeamlessHR, Africa’s leading HR and payroll SaaS provider, where he serves as Vice President for Eastern Africa. Widely recognised for turning strategy into market-leading products, Kariuki has previously held senior roles at Cellulant,…

Vodacom Group has entered a landmark strategic partnership with Google Cloud that will fast-track the pan-African telecom giant’s digital transformation and bring cutting-edge artificial intelligence services to millions of customers across the continent. Announced today, the collaboration will see Vodacom migrate its vast data estate onto Google Cloud’s secure, scalable infrastructure and deploy Google’s most advanced generative AI tools – including the Gemini, Veo, and Imagen models – to reinvent everything from network operations to customer experiences. Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub described the deal as far more than a technology upgrade. “This is a deep commitment to Africa’s digital revolution,”…

MTN Group has cemented its place as Africa’s undisputed telecommunications giant, becoming the first operator on the continent to surpass 300 million active subscribers. As of November 2025, the pan-African mobile powerhouse now serves 301.3 million customers across its 16 markets – meaning roughly one in every five Africans carries an MTN SIM card.With Africa’s total population standing at 1.56 billion and an estimated 416 million active mobile users (excluding children and the elderly), MTN’s footprint has reached an unprecedented scale. “This is a formative milestone,” said MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita. “Crossing 300 million customers is a…

Global critical infrastructure giant Vertiv and power-systems leader Caterpillar have signed a strategic agreement to develop fully integrated, pre-engineered energy solutions that dramatically cut deployment time and energy waste for high-density data centers. The partnership combines Caterpillar’s natural-gas turbines, reciprocating engines and Solar Turbines’ expertise in Combined Cooling, Heat and Power (CCHP) systems with Vertiv’s industry-leading power distribution, modular cooling, and lifecycle services portfolio. The result: factory-validated, plug-and-play reference architectures that allow data center operators to bring megawatts of new capacity online faster than ever before.Under the new collaboration, customers will gain: -Faster time-to-power through modular, pre-designed building blocks that…

Mastercard and Zenith Bank Plc have partnered to introduce the Essential Debit Card, a cost-effective and secure payment solution tailored for low-income earners and other underserved Nigerians who have been historically excluded from formal banking services. Launched in July 2025, the card is now available nationwide through Zenith branches and digital channels, in both physical and virtual formats. It features simplified onboarding, lower issuance costs, and is built on Mastercard’s global network to ensure acceptance wherever digital payments are growing fastest. The timing is significant. Nigeria’s digital payments explosion continued unabated in 2024, with electronic transactions hitting a record ₦1.08…

Google, in partnership with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, has officially launched the ‘AfCFTA Digital Inclusion & Entrepreneurship Programme’, a free initiative aimed at equipping 7,500 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the continent with cutting-edge AI and digital trade skills. The programme, powered by Google’s successful Hustle Academy, seeks to bridge Africa’s digital skills gap by delivering practical, localised training that helps entrepreneurs leverage AI-powered tools and navigate cross-border e-commerce under the AfCFTA framework. Since its inception in 2022, the Google Hustle Academy has already supported more than 18,000 African SMEs, providing a proven foundation for…

Nokia has won a significant three-year contract from Telecom Italia (TIM) to expand and modernize the operator’s 5G network across underserved regions of Italy, in one of the Finnish vendor’s largest recent victories in the Italian market. The deal, awarded after a competitive tender process, will substantially strengthen Nokia’s presence in Italy and support TIM’s ambitious nationwide digital transformation strategy. Under the agreement, Nokia will deploy its latest AI-ready 5G AirScale portfolio, including Habrok 32 Massive MIMO radios and Pandion FDD multi-band remote radio heads, to boost coverage and capacity with a strong emphasis on smaller towns and rural areas.…

The United KingdomGovernment has unveiled plans to slash electricity costs for new data centres in Scotland, potentially saving billions on consumer bills while transforming deindustrialized heartlands into hubs of digital innovation, a bold move to supercharge the region’s role in the global AI revolution. The proposal, announced by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), targets “constraint costs” – the hefty payments made to renewable energy producers to curb output during peak generation – and positions central Scotland as the UK’s most competitive site for AI infrastructure, rivaling low-cost Nordic powerhouses like Norway. Under the initiative, spearheaded by DSIT’s…

Vertiv, a global provider of critical digital infrastructure, today announced it will supply next-generation infrastructure for ROM1, Digital Realty’s first data centre in Italy with a planned capacity above 3 MW. The agreement extends the comprehensive suite of Vertiv solutions and existing technology implementations with Digital Realty across European locations, including Paris, Madrid, and Amsterdam. The ROM1 facility will feature advanced cooling and power infrastructure designed specifically for high-performance computing (HPC) environments. The technology implementation includes innovative free-cooling systems that leverage Rome’s climate conditions, and highly energy-efficient power management systems designed to support high-density workloads. The project will be implemented…